


Keep dreaming, asshole

by Ryxl



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Aftercare, Anal Sex, Angry Kissing, Angry Sex, Better love story than Twilight, Biting, Blackrom, Casual Threats of Violence, Consensual Violence, Hand Jobs, Labyrinth References, Love/Hate, M/M, Marking, More biting, Oral Sex, Rope Bondage, Rough Sex, Who let me write this, better communication than my ex, casual insults, deliberately choosing to give consent through inaction, did I mention the biting?, first chapter is more of a prologue, healthier relationship than 50 Shades, injuries, insincere death threats, it's complicated - Freeform, it's fluffy but they hate each other, maybe some redrom, not a slow burn, rating to be safe, they're cute I swear, trophy husband, unspoken consent
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-17
Updated: 2018-01-23
Packaged: 2018-11-15 00:47:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 45,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11219736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ryxl/pseuds/Ryxl
Summary: ((I'm back to writing this slowly, but I make no promises on update timeframe. Sorry.))Things haven't been right between Jack Morrison and Gabriel Reyes in close to thirty years. Their relationship died before it could really get going, and stubborn pride on both sides meant that what could have been love slowly turned into resentment and loathing. Then the Switzerland HQ blew up....Not that they're going to let any of that stop them. They've both wanted it too badly, and for way too long, to give up now. They're going to make it work or kill each other trying.





	1. You took a piece, now I'm biting back

It wasn’t the broken ribs that hurt most, Jack thought, trying not to cough or breathe too deeply. One ankle was most probably sprained, there was that gash down his face that was bleeding into his eyes, and his arms were secured behind his back a bit more strongly than they really needed to be, but not enough to dislocate unless he was really, really dumb. The black-armored goons who had found and dragged him out of the ruins had been anything but gentle, and he felt like one solid bruise from the top of his aching head to the bottoms of his throbbing feet. No, what hurt most was the betrayal.  
  
He’d known things with Gabe were bad. They’d been bad for a while, and even before that, they’d been strained. If he were being honest with himself, which there was no good reason not to be right now, things between them hadn’t really been _right_ since he accepted the position as head of Overwatch without getting approval from his commander or even discussing it with his friend. That had killed the budding relationship they’d been tap-dancing around and things had only gotten worse after that, with him being too proud to admit that Strike-Commander wasn’t anything like he thought it would be and Gabe being too stubborn to let Jack get closer again without something resembling an apology. So yeah, he’d known things between them were bad, but he never expected to see Blackwatch faces above Talon uniforms, to hear Blackwatch voices over the radio coordinating to gun down his people and set explosives. He was glad, honestly, that he hadn’t actually seen Reyes leading them, because he was pretty sure he would have done something dumb like shoot the man he’d once loved. Or, worse, stand there and let himself be shot.  
  
They had him in some kind of medical amphitheater. Not on a table or gurney, of course. No, he had one goon on each side holding him upright by the arms while half a dozen more lined the walls, weapons trained on him as though they expected him to make a break for it at any moment. Which, honestly, just proved they weren’t amateurs. Two cracked ribs and a compromised ankle would slow him down, but he was by no means out of the fight. In the observation room, three men in white coats and two in suits stood with their hands clasped calmly behind their backs, watching two white-coated flunkies approach with needles that Jack was really not looking forward to experiencing. Just as they got close, however, an alarm started blaring somewhere.  
  
The figures in the windowed room clustered together, talking urgently. Then, from the door the flunkies had entered through, shouting turned to screams that cut off abruptly and there was what Jack could only describe as an angry buzz, like someone had chucked a rock at a beehive or wasp’s nest and the swarm was about to come boiling out, madder than hell and looking for blood. At first, the black mist seeping through a hole in the door seemed to be just that – a swarm of angry insects. Then he realized the particles were way too fine, and they were actively chewing a larger hole in the door as the trickle became a steady stream. The armed guards started firing wildly into the smoke which, naturally, was unharmed. It flowed up the wall and bored through the glass to fill the observation room. Jack couldn’t see what happened to the men inside, but their screams sounded pretty desperate before they cut off. The mist, whatever it was, bored a second hole through the glass and poured down again, this time making a beeline for Jack.  
  
“Get out of the way,” one of the guards shouted to the two holding Jack up. “If it wants him, it can have him!”  
  
One of the guards dropped Jack’s arm and ran for the damaged door, leaving the wounded prisoner to grunt in pain as he fell over. The other unsheathed his weapon.  
  
“No way. We have orders to make sure he dies, with or without telling us anything.”  
  
Jack braced for the shot.  
  
It never came.  
  
Well, the weapon was discharged, but there was no impact, and Jack wasn’t in a position to turn and see why. Not without a lot more pain. The cut-off scream told him plenty, though. The other guards resumed firing; none of the shots landed. Then, one by one, they screamed and went silent.  
  
So this was how it ended, Jack thought. Eaten by something that escaped its test tube. He tried to calm his mind, to compose a brief prayer before he met his maker.  
  
Instead, the ties biting into his wrists snapped.  
  
Before he could process what had just happened, the swarm of smoke flowed into his line of sight and…curdled. There was no other word for it; the gaseous entity condensed unevenly into tighter clumps, like it was trying to take a solid shape but couldn’t make it work.  
  
“Hey,” he said in a quiet, nearly-choked voice. “Thanks, whoever or whatever you are.”  
  
The curdling stopped, the black smoke expanding in what honestly kind of looked like surprise.  
  
“I owe you my life,” Jack continued, heartened by this non-hostile reaction. “Listen, I know it’s going to take me a minute to get to my feet and I don’t even know how long it’ll take me to get out of here, but you’re welcome to come with me.”  
  
The cloud of smoke drew back in for a moment before curdling again.  
  
“You _can_ understand me, can’t you?”  
  
A vague plume, like a knob on a stalk, extended from the curdling mass and bobbed up and down.  
  
Jack found himself smiling. “I guess that’s a yes. Alright, let me catch my breath and see what I’ve got to work with, and then we’ll get out of here. _If_ you want to come with me."  
  
The knob bobbed again.  
  
Well, well, well. It looked like Jack had a friend.  
  
The escape went both better and worse than he’d expected. Even propping himself up with painkillers and improvising a binding for his ribs, Jack wasn’t moving anywhere as fast as he would have liked…but it didn’t matter that he couldn’t dodge or fight his way out, because the angry cloud of smoke surged ahead to handle any hostiles that crossed their path. He wasn’t actually sure how to describe what the smoke did to them, or what the remains looked like, but it was enough to make him glad that for whatever reason, it liked him. He armed himself from a weapons locker, helped himself to bits of armor and rations, medical supplies, spare clothes, cash, anything that looked useful before he limped through the compound until he found the garage, where he liberated an unmarked black sedan and a five-gallon bucket.  
  
"Hey," he called to the cloud of angry smoke, who was killing some poor schmuck in the corner. "If you're coming with me, I'm ready to leave."  
  
The smoke finished its latest victim and flowed eagerly over to him.  
  
"Got you a bucket," Jack said, gesturing to the container in the back seat of the sedan, with the other supplies. "That way you've got somewhere to sit and relax."  
  
He'd been afraid the smoke would balk, but it filled the bucket and eddied in what he hoped was contentment.  
  
Jack Morrison climbed into the driver's seat and started the vehicle. "Alright. Let's get the hell out of here."

* * *

News was on the radio already that the Overwatch HQ had exploded. Rescue teams were finding bodies left and right, and while they hadn't finished searching the ruins, Jack Morrison was being declared dead.  
  
"That's a lie, and they know it," he growled as they cruised the streets looking for a nondescript place to crash for a few days. "This was a set-up. We got attacked by what should have been our own. Surprised they're not talking about Reyes."  
  
A minute later, the radio announced that blame was being placed on Gabriel Reyes, commander of the controversial Blackwatch section of Overwatch, who was also presumed dead in the wreckage.  
  
"He wasn't even _there_ that I saw! I saw his men," Jack explained to the bucket of curdling smoke in the back, "but not him. Probably pulling the strings from a distance, sitting in a bunker somewhere laughing at having taken Overwatch down. Bastard."  
  
In the rear-view mirror, he could see the smoke boil up into a pillar.  
  
"Hey, hey, get down! Do you _want_ someone to see you?"  
  
The smoke reluctantly lowered.  
  
"Okay. That's better. I'm sorry," he continued more gently. "I shouldn't have yelled. I've...I've got history with Reyes. If you want, I'll tell you about it once we find a place to lay low for a bit."  
  
The smoke bobbed _yes_.

* * *

They didn't go to the main Overwatch safehouse, or even one of the little apartments that served as resource stashes and inconspicuous places to hole up. Jack hit up a series of ATMs, withdrawing as much of his money as he could, and then paid in cash for a week at a dingy motel in a disreputable part of town.  
  
"I'll ditch the car once it gets dark," he told the bucket of smoke as he carried it, and his duffle bag of supplies, into the room. "Don't know that anyone will be looking for us, but no reason to keep something Talon can trace."  
  
The smoke rose out of the bucket in a narrow column with a vaguely ball-shaped blob on top, like a vague approximation of a limbless torso and head. He was probably imagining it, but Jack swore he read wordless approval in what passed for the smoke's body language.  
  
"So I guess this is a good time to tell you about my history with Reyes," Jack said, rummaging in his supplies. "I hope you don't mind if I clean myself up while I talk."  
  
The smoke rippled like it was shrugging.  
  
While Jack ripped open alcohol swabs and cleaned grime and dried blood off his face, doing his best to clean the gash that had just barely missed his eye, he confessed how he'd felt when he first met Gabriel Reyes. How the other man had been so powerful, so graceful, like a panther in combat boots. He was confident, self-assured, _solid_. He knew who he was, knew his flaws and strengths, had nothing to prove but wasn't afraid to prove it anyway. Jack had been drawn to that easy confidence, fascinated by the violence the man was capable of dishing out without hesitation or remorse, but Reyes didn't let anyone get close to him. Wincing at more than just the sting of alcohol on his face, he described how he'd screwed up his courage to present his admiration without apology, and been rewarded with being let behind some of Gabriel's defenses. But then he'd fucked up and leaped at the promotion he'd been offered, and Reyes had shut him out again.  
  
Maybe he should have felt self-conscious about baring his heart to a sentient bucket of smoke. To be honest, Jack was just grateful to have someone to talk to because Ana had told _both_ of them that she wouldn't mediate, and he wasn't comfortable bringing it up with anyone else.  
  
Wrestling the gash on his face shut with adhesive wound closure strips made it easier to talk about how strained things had gotten. The nagging feeling that although they didn't talk about their stillborn relationship, Reyes had wanted it to happen and blamed Jack for the fact that it didn't. The guilt at knowing that it _was_ his fault, but he didn't know how to make it right, so what could have been love festered slowly until it turned into outright loathing and resentment.  
  
"I didn't think he'd take it past just me," Jack sighed as he crumpled all the sterile wrappers up and dumped them in the trashcan. "I figured if he ever made a move, he would just beat me to death in a dark alley and take over Overwatch. I didn't think he'd bring the whole thing down. Guess I was wrong."  
  
The smoke column was curdling, trying to condense into something solid, bulging and breaking apart in a way that seemed frustrated beyond words.  
  
"Hey," he said gently, sitting on the foot of the sagging bed, "it's okay. I don't know what they did to you, but it's okay. Don't hurt yourself. You'll get the hang of it."  
  
The curdling stopped and the smoke sank back into the bucket before the stalk-with-ball formed again. It seemed to be trying to shake its 'head' no, but couldn't make the rotation work.  
  
"Try just..." Jack tilted his head side to side. "For expressing no. Try that. Good," he said warmly when the smoke mimicked his motion. "You're doing great. Do you have a name?"  
  
Nod. _Yes._  
  
"Okay. Until we can work out a more complex method of communication, we'll just...I'll go through the alphabet, and you nod when I get to the letter your name starts with. Then I'll go through it again, and you nod for the second letter, and so on. Okay?"  
  
_No._  
  
Jack frowned. "No? Is there a problem with the method I described?"  
  
_No._  
  
"No...okay. Do you not _want_ me to know your name? Uh...hold on, let me rephrase that. Do you _want_ me to know your name?"  
  
The smoke hesitated for a long moment. _No._  
  
"That's perfectly fine," Jack said, hands up. "You don't have to tell me. I won't pry. I _would_ like to have something to call you, though. Do you mind if I give you a nickname?"  
  
Hesitation. _No._  
  
"Okay. Hm."  
  
The smoke tilted its 'head' curiously at him as he thought.  
  
"All I can think of are the names of metal bands," Jack said sheepishly. "All that talking about Reyes got me thinking about the angry music he listened to."  
  
A ripple went up the smoke-shape, like the entity was laughing.  
  
"Well, you sort of tore through Talon like the embodiment of death, so...how about Reaper?"  
  
Enthusiastic nodding.  
  
Jack smiled shyly. "You like that, huh? Okay, Reaper it is. So here's my plan for the night: I'm going to order a pizza for pick-up, drive the car off and dump it somewhere, walk to the pizza place, get my pizza, and walk back. I grabbed someone's sunglasses and a dark hoodie, so between that and the bruising I doubt anyone will recognize me. Do you want to come with me, or stay here and guard the..."  
  
The words trailed off because the smoke - Reaper - had left its bucket and was swirling around him almost protectively.  
  
"I'll take that as coming with me."

* * *

"That's a mighty nice car," a voice said in a tone that practically screamed _would be a shame if something happened to it._  
  
"It is," Jack agreed, leaving the door open as Reaper flowed invisibly out into the barely-lit parking lot. There were half a dozen figures in the shadows behind the speaker, and he tossed the keys in that general direction. "Congratulations on your new car. Take it and go, because if you follow me, you won't live to regret it."  
  
Without even waiting for a response, Jack turned and left. No one followed him.  
  
"Wow," he murmured a block later. "I didn't think I could pull that off. Reyes always made it look so _easy_ , but that man could look threatening in his sleep and I've always had the sort of face that children trust. Like the Superman to his Batman, you know?"  
  
As they crossed a streetlight, Reaper formed a 'head' and nodded.  
  
"I guess I've moved past the 'Boyscout of Steel' Superman and into the 'Zack Snyder grimdark petty-theft-and-murder' Superman territory," he sighed. "I'm not sure if that's good or bad."

* * *

Back in the motel room, fortified with pizza and beer, Jack checked his rapidly-healing injuries.  
  
"Couple of days left on the ribs," he announced, wincing as he prodded his side. "Ankle was only sprained, and it's fine now. Face'll probably scar. Not sure how I feel about that."  
  
Reaper nodded.  
  
"Oh, you approve of the scar? I guess it'll be pretty badass. You know, it's ironic - it probably wouldn't scar if I didn't have accelerated healing. Sort of fitting, though. It's a metaphor for my life. Moved too fast, caused a rift that will never close." Jack sighed as he bound his ribs back up. "At least holing up here will give me a chance to figure out what I'm going to do with myself."  
  
Reaper's column quirked. It looked almost like a question mark.  
  
"Well, I've been declared dead," Jack explained. "And yeah, I could go set _that_ record straight, but no one's reported Talon's involvement. Everything's all 'Blackwatch, Blackwatch, Blackwatch' with no mention of Talon, when I _know_ I saw some of Reyes's men in Talon uniforms."  
  
Reaper shuddered and curdled. Jack hoped he wasn't misinterpreting when he thought the smoke entity was angry.  
  
"I'd say _tell me about it_ , but you can't," he said dryly. "Yeah. I'm pretty pissed, too. I guess it's on me to get revenge," he said. "Track down Talon bases, trash them until I find Reyes and can...I don't know, punch him in the dick or something. They killed Jack Morrison? Fine, I'll become someone else. Become a vigilante. Become a cold motherfucker like Reyes. Become the goddamn Batman."  
  
_Yes, yes, yes,_ Reaper nodded.  
  
Jack gave the entity a rictus of a smile. "You want to come with me, get revenge for what they did to you?"  
  
_Yes, yes, yes!_  
  
"Glad to have you," he said with tired warmth. He may have lost everything else, but at least he wasn't alone in this surreal afterlife. "I'd think up a vigilante name for myself, but I don't plan on making introductions and you can't talk to use it, so there's no point. I'll go by whatever the eventual wanted posters call me."

* * *

The life of a vigilante wasn't all that bad, Jack thought as he broke one goon's nose with the butt of his stolen pulse rifle and kicked a second into the hungry cloud that was his partner. They'd been on the road for a few months now, raiding Talon bases big and small and staying in dingy motels in between. First order of business in any new base was death and destruction, with Reaper usually accomplishing most of the death. Still no sign of Reyes, although occasionally one of the casualties was a Blackwatch traitor. Reaper always seemed happier after killing one of those. Once they were the only ones alive in the base, Jack ransacked their systems for information. Names of higher-ups and locations of other bases got copied down. Sometimes, he made copies of project information, although he didn't trust anyone with the secret of his identity, much less enemy intel. So he had a growing collection of thumb drives kept in a bomb-proof case. Someday, he'd give them to someone. But until then, he wiped Talon's servers in the most thorough way possible once he was done picking through them: he blew them up.  
  
After taking care of personnel and intel, the next order of business was to load up one of their vehicles - usually a van - with all manner of food, civilian clothing, medical supplies, and valuables. Then he rigged explosives with a timer, set the timer going, and got the hell out of there. What he needed, he kept. Valuables got pawned. The rest he bundled up in garbage bags and dumped at homeless shelters, food kitchens, poor clinics, whatever was nearby that would make the best use of it. The van, once it was empty, would get abandoned and the keys tossed away. Sometimes, he slashed the tires or busted the windows. He had a nondescript little car for his own use, something they'd found when they pulled over to investigate a car on the side of the road and found an old man, newly dead of natural causes. Guiltily, Jack had apologized to the corpse and then robbed it of everything it didn't need before leaving it in their stolen, hotwired vehicle and setting it on fire. So now he had a fake identity as well as a legal vehicle.  
  
Once his face had healed (and it did scar), Jack had put on his most naive demeanor and gone into a drug store for cosmetics and tips on how to apply them. He was sure Reaper was laughing at him every time he did his face, but it meant he could walk around in public without being recognized and that made everything in between missions much more bearable. He'd appropriated a sturdy jacket with a 76 on the back from one base, and a targeting visor that covered most of his face from another, so there was little to identify the vigilante 'Soldier: 76' - as the wanted posters called him - as being the remarkably fit older man who drove a beat-up red coupe. He and Reaper traveled from town to town, country to country, criss-crossing Europe in no identifiable pattern. They stayed in run-down motels, watching mediocre TV and eating take-out. Well, Jack ate the take-out. Reaper ate the trash. Similarly, Jack complained about the quality of the television programming or the movies while Reaper expressed agreement or disagreement through an increasingly-complex system of gestures and pantomimes.  
  
It was weirdly domestic. Jack didn't think he'd ever been this...maybe not _happy_ , but at least he was content. Before everything went to hell, his usual nighttime routine had frequently involved drunken raging at Reyes before passing out. Reaper put a stop to both the drinking and the ranting within the first month. If Jack bought alcohol, the instant they were back in their room Reaper would devour it, bottle (or cans) and all and then curdle unhappily. Jack was subjected to the same unhappy curdling if he brought Reyes up for longer than a quick comment. It was clear that something about Reyes was agitating Reaper, and Jack didn't want to upset his only companion, so he stopped. Reaper seemed to be adjusting to being made of smoke, and focused on exploring what such a body _could_ do rather than getting hung up on what it _couldn't_. There were times where Reaper - Jack had never gotten around to asking about pronouns, it felt rude somehow - still curdled in intense frustration, trying to condense into a solid form, but the smoky shapes Reaper could make were getting more and more intricate.  
  
Invariably, one of the situations that would get Reaper curdling was when Jack nearly died. Reaper was absolutely fanatical about protecting Jack, something he appreciated, but it meant wearing a lot of black because Reaper would cling to his clothes in public, and it meant if someone came close to killing Jack or just wounded him horrifically (which happened very infrequently), Reaper would go berserk and kill everyone in the room...not to mention destroying pretty much anything that wasn't Jack. It was touching, but slightly terrifying. And then afterwards, Reaper would curdle ferociously, trying so very hard to take solid form.  
  
Jack did his best to comfort Reaper, reassuring the entity that it was okay, he was safe, using a calming tone and even going so far as to try to touch that almost-solid mass, ignoring that if Reaper were so inclined, he would lose his hand in a split second. Sometimes, Reaper would coil around him, a sensation like the finest silk slipping over his skin, the closest - he assumed - that Reaper could come to hugging him.  
  
It was nice to know that _someone_ cared.

* * *

The first time Reaper achieved a semisolid form, Jack about had a heart attack.  
  
If not for the fact that he couldn't afford scrutiny, Jack would be financially comfortable. He had a bomb-proof case full of neatly-stacked money to match the one holding his collection of intel, and he could have bought himself an entire wardrobe of tailored suits if it weren't safer for him to wear clothes that looked broken-in if not outright old. He couldn't do much with the money - slightly better food, going to the movies, a new pillow and a warm blanket that he kept in the backseat of the coupe because he couldn't stay at better hotels. The ones where the proprietors turned a blind eye were safest. So he was shifting on yet another sagging mattress, the digital alarm clock displaying 3:57AM, when he rolled over and there was a dark figure laying in the other bed.  
  
For a moment, he just froze. Who had gotten in? Why hadn't Reaper killed them? The figure looked wrong - was that a corpse? A _burned_ corpse? Slowly, he reached under his pillow for the silenced pistol he'd stashed there.  
  
Then the figure shivered and collapsed into curdling black mist.  
  
"You scared me," he accused Reaper, who slithered off towards the bucket in an embarrassed way. "It's okay! You don't have to...it's okay," he repeated as the entity slipped completely out of sight. "Were you practicing? It's fine, now that I know it's you. I won't look. You don't have to hide. I'm not angry. I'm happy for you," Jack said softly. "You're getting better. It's taken what, almost nine months? But you're coming back from almost nothing. I'm proud of you." He yawned. "And it's four in the goddamn morning, so I'm going back to sleep. Keep practicing, Reaper. You'll get it. I have faith in you."  
  
Jack lay back down, eyes mostly closed, and slowed his breathing. A minute or two later, he saw a dark figure build itself on the other bed, and let his eyelids drop with an internal smile.  
  
After that, he never saw Reaper attempt to take a solid shape, although there were signs that someone had moved things in the motel room. On the occasions where Jack woke up in the middle of the night, he heard footsteps inside the bathroom and saw shadows under the bathroom door, but he left the smoke entity to practice in privacy.  
  
One morning, he woke up to Reaper sitting on the foot of the bed as a giant, creepy smiley face.  
  
"Good morning to you, too," he grumbled. "This is new. What's up?"  
  
The smiley face re-shaped itself into a question mark.  
  
"You have a question? Okay, shoot."  
  
The question mark became a U, then a heart, then a...honestly, it looked like a horizontal phallus.  
  
"Do I love dicks?"  
  
The bit he assumed was the testicles elongated.  
  
"...with big balls?"  
  
The shape curdled, and then re-formed into something that looked more like a rough gun - he could see the trigger.  
  
"Do I love guns. I'd think you'd know the answer by now...or is that a _specific_ gun? Because it looks kind of like the unholy shotguns Reyes use..." Jack trailed off. "Oh. Do I love Reyes."  
  
The gun dissolved into a cloud of smoke again.  
  
"Are you jealous?" Jack teased. "Don't worry, you're the only murder-happy psychotic bastard for me. I'm joking," he protested as the smoke curdled furiously and seemed to be forming hands. "I don't know how I feel about Reyes. It's complicated. Part of me still wants to see if a relationship is possible with the man he used to be. Mostly, I want to kick his ass for taking Overwatch down instead of just arranging my death and taking over. I guess when we find him, I'll start with that and see how I feel after I've repaid him for the beating his goons gave me."  
  
Reaper took the shape of a pair of lips, followed by a question mark.  
  
"Do I want to kiss him?" Jack scratched at his hair. "Good question. I mean, I never really stopped fantasizing occasionally about grabbing him in the hall, out of the blue, and slamming him into the wall for a good, long kiss. But over the years...I mean, originally, the fantasy led to sex and then cuddling. The Tuesday before shit hit the fan, I imagined kissing him while choking him out and then he'd wake up naked, on his knees, handcuffed to the foot of my bed with a gag ring in his mouth..."  
  
He trailed off, lost in the fantasy of having Reyes helpless like that, of being able to shove his cock in the other man's mouth without fear of being bitten. When he shook the images away, Reaper was alternating between the form of what was, actually, a large phallus and the letter U.  
  
"I know, I'm a dick. But listen - it takes two to tango. Yeah, I should have apologized, but Reyes could have fucking _said_ something instead of being all passive-aggressive bitchy at me. Even if it was just 'hey, Morrison, you're a giant asshole and if you ever want to get a taste of this again, you'll have to beg first.' That would have been better."  
  
Reaper quirked questioningly at him.  
  
"Would I have begged?"  
  
_Yes._  
  
"I don't know. Maybe. Probably, if he kicked my ass first. He respects strength, you know? If I just begged, he would lose any respect he had for me. But if I made him work for it..." Jack shook his head, chasing away distracting images of _him_ being the one handcuffed in the gag ring. "Anyway, does that answer your question?"  
  
A thumbs-up from Reaper.  
  
"Good, because I need a shower and then we need to pack. I want to hit that Talon base before dusk."

* * *

They argued unevenly over how to spend the one-year anniversary of their lives going to hell. Reaper wanted to hit a Talon base. Jack wanted to go to the Overwatch ruins and honor the ones who hadn't made it out. Reaper called him a bleeding heart and pointed out that the ruins were likely to be watched. Jack was impressed at the complexity of that pantomime: the smoke-droplets falling from the heart, the broken Overwatch symbol, the binoculars.  
  
"You have a point," he said reluctantly. Then he unrolled their map with Talon bases marked in various colors to indicate which ones they had or had not hit yet. "Alright. Where do you want to go?"  
  
The cloud of smoke formed a semisolid hand and stabbed the map with one finger.  
  
Zurich.  
  
Where they'd met. Where it all began. They hadn't searched it before making their escape, and they'd never gone back because neither of them wanted to relive their respective captures (Reaper more than Jack, unsurprisingly). But now...it was time.

* * *

Their entry into the Talon base was routine; quick and nearly effortless thanks to a year of working together. Jack hotwired a car and drove it to the back side of the property, where Reaper passed through the chain-link fence, eating a hole in it on the way. The targeting visor let Jack pick off guards and security cameras while Reaper ate the locks out of the door. Then it was rushing through the building, Jack pounding down corridors, firing shots down every intersection while Reaper flowed ahead, creating a path of destruction and death. They were nearing some sort of executive office or main security area when the smoke entity suddenly darted off and Jack lost sight of it, navigating by the sounds of its rampage.  
  
Then he heard a scream.  
  
By itself, a scream would be just another bit of background noise to Jack. But he _knew_ this voice, knew it with every cell of his body, and adrenaline flooded him with cold fear.  
  
"Gabriel?!"  
  
All danger forgotten, Jack sprinted in the direction of the scream and stumbled to a halt in what was some kind of command center. Screens - some of them riddled with bullet holes, displaying only static - lined one wall, a strategy table had been thrown violently against the opposite wall, and at least half a dozen bodies sprawled on the floor displayed either Reaper's signature disintegration damage or clear gunshot wounds. The door opposite smoked gently from the edges of the hole Reaper had chewed in it.  
  
One of the bodies was Gabriel Reyes.  
  
Jack's first thought was denial: this wasn't Gabriel Reyes, it _couldn't_ be. He slung the pulse rifle over his shoulder, ripped the targeting visor off, and dashed across the room, falling to his knees beside the body. It was absolutely Gabriel Reyes, his chest and abdomen so soaked with blood that Jack couldn't tell where, exactly, he'd been shot.  
  
His second thought was pleading: don't let him be dead, _please_ , if there was a higher power listening, let Gabriel Reyes be alive! He didn't _look_ dead, just asleep - but wasn't that what everyone said about their dead loved ones? He tugged his gloves off, pressed two fingers to the side of Gabriel's neck. The flesh was still warm, but there was no pulse.  
  
Something in Jack's heart shattered. Although a part of him knew it was corny and cliche, he found himself sitting on his heels, head thrown back as a howl of wordless grief tore its way out of his throat. All the years they could have had, all the years they'd wasted, _gone_. The reconciliation he'd all but given up hope for was forever out of his reach; the man he'd once (and, as much as he hated to admit it, still did in some corner of his heart) loved was dead, and the world seemed darker, emptier, than it had just a few minutes ago.  
  
In the wake of grief, Jack found himself filled with anger. Ignoring the tears on his cheeks, he climbed to his feet and gave the body a sharp kick in the ribs.  
  
"Serves you right, you bastard," he spat. "I'm just sorry I didn't get to kill you myself for everything you did."  
  
Shaken at the death he hadn't expected and dissatisfied at having been denied closure, Jack started to pick his way across the room to the door Reaper had exited through.  
  
Then, from behind him, a rustling sound. Jack's blood turned to ice, and he froze.  
  
"Where do you think _you're_ going," growled Gabriel's voice.  
  
It should have been impossible. But in that moment, before Jack could conjure up rationalizations like _psychotic break_ , he whirled and hurled himself at the impossibility standing behind him with an expression of dark anticipation hovering on his lips and in the shadows of his deep brown eyes.  
  
Jack had intended to punch Gabriel, or at least throttle him. Certainly, his hands were outstretched, reaching hungrily. Then he actually got the other man's skin beneath his fingers and discovered he was holding Gabriel's head, pulling the other man closer, fastening his mouth to the one that had been curved in anticipation moments before and kissing with all the force of thirty sexually frustrated years.  
  
Three seconds, maybe four, Reyes tolerated this assault. Then his lips parted and Jack expected to feel teeth. He did _not_ expect to have a tongue invade his mouth, to be kissed back so fiercely that it made his knees weak. It was almost dizzying when Reyes pulled back, leaving him gasping with the force of unanticipated arousal. The fist that suddenly embedded itself in his solar plexus was a complete surprise.  
  
"Everything _I_ did?" Reyes snarled while Jack collapsed, gasping for breath, curled protectively around his abdomen. "I don't know which turns my stomach more - your ugly face, or that you think I'd stoop so low."  
  
"If my face is so ugly," Jack wheezed, "why'd you kiss it?"  
  
"To show you what you could have had if you'd ever gotten your head out of your ass," Reyes spat.  
  
Jack threw himself to the side, legs sweeping out to knock Reyes off his feet, and then rolled to pin the other man beneath him. "That was awfully invested for just showing off," he taunted, holding Gabriel's hands by the wrists. "I think you _liked_ it."  
  
"I'm not the one who _cried_ , Morrison." Reyes smirked. "What's the matter, did you _miss me?_ Do you _love_ me? Or do you just want to get laid for once in your pathetic life?"  
  
"As if I'd lower myself that much," Jack countered.  
  
Reyes ground up with his hips. "And that's why you're hard as a rock?"  
  
The friction made Jack gasp, his hips moving on their own, and his grip on Gabriel's wrists loosened for just a moment. A moment was all Reyes needed, though, because Jack found himself on his back with the other man pinning his wrists with one hand, the other fumbling between their bodies, tugging at the fabric of his pants.  
  
"What the _fuck_ are you doing, Reyes?" Jack demanded, unsure if he wanted his old friend to stop, or keep going.  
  
"I spent _years_ covering your ungrateful ass," Reyes snarled, tugging Jack's pants down over his hips. "I think I deserve to... _reap_ the benefits of that."  
  
As Reyes leaned back, Jack pulled his hands free and socked the other man in the jaw, sending him tumbling back. Turnabout was fair play, wasn't it? Jack didn't stop to answer his own rhetorical question before he was tugging at Gabriel's pants, his own sliding down his thighs, leaving his underwear exposed for anyone to see. That is, if there had been anyone still alive in the room aside from them. Gabriel's pants, on the other hand, didn't so much as budge.  
  
"You want me that badly?" Reyes chuckled darkly. "You want to fire my shotgun? I knew it."  
  
Jack paused. He knew it was a trap somehow, but he had to ask anyway. "Knew what?"  
  
"That you love dicks with big balls," taunted Reyes.  
  
Then the prone figure of Gabriel Reyes dissolved into black smoke and flowed away, leaving Jack on his hands and knees with his pants half-off. Before he could feel more than a frisson of alarm - or maybe anticipation - there was a warm hand on the small of his back and his briefs were being pulled down. Then his distracted brain tore itself away from his aroused state long enough to scream _Reaper is Reyes!_ at him.  
  
Reaper was Reyes. This whole time, he'd been pouring his heart out to...accusing...  
  
"You _bastard_ , _"_ he growled.  
  
"That's what happens when your parents aren't married," Reyes agreed.  
  
"It was you, the whole time! You set me up!"  
  
"And you fell for it. _Jackie_."  
  
Jack's cheeks burned at hearing the nickname no one else had dared call him. The nickname he'd last heard uttered in a low, affectionate voice, promising to rid him of his virginity later that night, before Gabriel learned he'd been passed over for a position he hadn't even known existed. Jack wasn't sure if it was shame, yearning, or rage making his face flushed.  
  
"All this time," he said quietly. "All this time, Gabriel, it was you. But you never said a fucking word, asshole!"  
  
"The only asshole of any importance here is yours," Gabriel taunted. "Brace yourself, Jack. I'm going in dry. You'll heal quick enough."  
  
"Dry?" Jack choked as something hot pressed against his cheeks.  
  
"Unless you'd rather I lube with the blood of the dead," Reyes said dismissively.  
  
Revulsion made Jack shudder. Still, he didn't move as Gabriel's thumbs pried his asscheeks apart, as his dick pushed between them, hot and hard, quiet sounds of pleasure making his own cock twitch.  
  
"Looks like you get some lube after all, Jackie."  
  
Before Jack could ask Reyes what he meant, the other man let out a choked sound and something hot spurted inside him.  
  
"Did you just cum in my asshole, asshole?"  
  
Reyes was working two fingers inside, smearing the thick fluid around. "Please, my cum is probably the best thing your asshole's ever touched."  
  
Again, the head of Gabriel's penis pressed against, slid inside with a _pop_ , and the bastard made sounds of pleasure before pushing deeper, sliding slowly in a fraction of an inch before pulling back out, teasing both of them.  
  
"Thought you were going in dry," Jack mocked, wishing he dared reach for his own member.  
  
"Be patient," Reyes panted. "Fuck, you're tight. Good thing enhancement means- _ungh!"_  
  
The motion stopped as Reyes climaxed a second time. Jack growled.  
  
"Jealous, Jackie?"  
  
"No," Jack lied.  
  
"Say _please_ and I'll give you a hand while I reload."  
  
Jack wasn't sure what he hated more: the insulting offer, or the fact that he was tempted by it.  
  
"In your dreams, Reyes. What's the matter, didn't want me to know it was you because you didn't want to admit that you _needed my help?"_  
  
"I saved your _life_ ," Reyes snarled, thrusting in on the last word, the sudden motion making Jack cry out as something tore. " _You're_ the one who needed _me_. I'm fucking _immortal_ , Morrison. You're just an old man pining for the past."  
  
Despite the burning pain as Reyes thrust into him repeatedly, something he was doing felt good, and Jack wanted more. "You're the one _fucking_ an old man," he taunted. "Poor Gabriel, going around with the love of your life and you can't even-"  
  
"I don't _love_ you!" Reyes was back to thrusting furiously. "I saved your life because I wanted to kill you _myself_ , but I wanted you to _know_ it was me!"  
  
That curled around Jack's belly, dark and delicious. It may not have been love, but the knowledge that he was _that important_ to Reyes...that they felt the same way...  
  
It was like slow lightning, crawling down his spine, electric in his balls, bursting out of him as Gabriel's dick hit the right spot and he didn't care that his bones were turning to jelly in the wake of his orgasm because Gabe _cared_ enough to set up this ambush. He'd plotted to get Jack alone on the anniversary of their lives going to hell. Thirty years he'd wondered what it would be like, making love with his best friend, but mutual-hate sex was better than anything he'd imagined.  
  
"Done already, _Jackie?"_  
  
Despite the derision dripping from the words, Reyes was the one who sounded like he was done, and Jack could feel the thick cock in his ass soften even as his hardened again. He laughed.  
  
"Not quite, _Gabe_." It was the nickname he'd been allowed to use after confessing his attraction, and forbidden after accepting the position of Strike-Commander.  
  
Reyes pulled out slowly, panting, and when Jack turned around he was sitting on the blood-splattered floor, completely naked, with half-lidded eyes. It was quite possibly the most arousing thing he'd ever seen.  
  
Quickly, before Reyes could react, he lunged and grabbed the other man's head in both hands, pulling it down to slide that half-open mouth onto his cock, knees spread as much as his pants would allow for balance. For a brief moment he was afraid Gabe would bite, but then he felt the warm, wet swipe of tongue over the head of his erection and all fears dissolved as he groaned.  
  
It was Jack's turn to be rough, thrusting into Gabriel's mouth, feeling that tongue thrash, licking and stroking almost accidentally as he fought against the intrusion in his mouth. Then Reyes tried to curse him, and the vibrations pushed Jack over the edge, spilling into Gabriel's mouth and throat, making him choke.  
  
"You taste nasty, Morrison," Reyes complained, spitting.  
  
Jack couldn't bring himself to care. "Fine, _I'll_ cum in _your_ ass next time," he said lazily, wrestling his clothes back into place. "Are we finishing the mission?"  
  
Reyes snorted. "Does the base _look_ like it's in flames?"  
  
"Just making sure." Jack smirked. "Wasn't sure if you'd want to go back to the motel and snuggle."  
  
"You try to snuggle me, and I'll piss on you while you're sleeping." Reyes got to his feet and stretched. "Well, the rest of these fucks aren't going to just kill _themselves,_ " he said in a cross between resignation and eagerness. Then he dissolved into black smoke and flowed out of the room.  
  
The ransacking of the base proceeded as per usual, which was strange to Jack since he knew that Reaper, the partner he'd worked so smoothly with for the last year, was the man he'd thought was behind everything. But nothing seemed to have changed between them. They still stole information out of the servers before blowing them up, still ransacked the base for useful items and materials and loaded them into a van. The only difference was an extra pair of hands, and when he made comments to Reaper, they were returned with the biting wit that he'd missed from Reyes.  
  
After they'd dumped their excess and ditched the van, they climbed into the beat-up coupe and Jack realized Reyes was sitting in the front seat next to him, dressed in some dead schmuck's clothes.  
  
"I want my own pizza," he said when he saw Jack looking. "Hawaiian. With jalapenos."  
  
"That's disgusting, Gabriel."  
  
"You don't have to eat it."  
  
"But I have to _smell_ it."  
  
"Tough shit, Jack. I've been eating _your_ garbage for a year."  
  
Jack couldn't argue with that.


	2. House on fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After all the years they spent sniping at each other over the relationship they almost had, Jack and Gabriel are reunited and getting along like a house on fire: screaming, injuries, property damage, inquiries about how it started, and next to no chance of escape.

"We're running out of Talon bases," Reyes pointed out, three and a half slices into his Hawaiian pizza.  
  
It was true. The few bases that were left in Europe were hardly more than outposts or supply drops. Jack frowned at that map. "What do you suggest we do after we hit them?"  
  
It felt...odd...to ask that, to be _working with_ the man he'd spent the last year thinking of as his enemy. But Reaper had been the tactician, plotting their zig-zagging course to avoid hitting bases Talon thought they'd hit. And even before that, Reyes had always had the better mind for tactics, which is why he'd led the original strike force. No matter how much they'd loathed each other in the last few years, Jack could count on Reyes to speak up if he thought a plan was bad, and Jack wasn't dumb enough to put lives at risk for the sake of a personal grudge that was, when you really got down to it, his fault in the first place.  
  
Reyes chewed on his slice, staring at the map. "No point in staying in Europe. Neither of us have contacts who could get us fake ID that would pass inspection, though, and we're both legally dead. I doubt Petras is going to get his head out of his ass even if we could prove that Talon set us up..."  
  
Guilt made Jack's stomach turn. He had no idea if anything would ever fix what he'd broken, but the thought of Reyes getting sick of his shit and abandoning him was intolerable. "I'm sorry I blamed you," he said quietly.  
  
For a long minute, Reyes didn't respond. "You were right," he said finally. "I would have just beat you to death in an alley and taken over. Assuming Ana didn't kill me first." His expression hardened. "I'm still blaming you for her death."  
  
"That makes two of us," Jack muttered bitterly.  
  
"Yeah, well, tell you what." Reyes shoved the last bite of pizza crust into his mouth and chewed. "You go to the store and pick up some things, and I'll plan our next move while you're gone."  
  
Warily, Jack asked, "What am I picking up?"  
  
"A pillow and blanket for me, toothbrush, toothpaste, nylon rope, and lube." Reyes smiled nastily. "I seem to recall some fantasies you had once, and they gave me...ideas. I haven't forgiven you for pinning Talon's shit on me for the last year."  
  
Jack's pulse jumped. "No condoms?"  
  
Reyes smirked. "Not unless _you're_ wearing them. I want you to have to _work_ at getting clean after I'm done with you."  
  
When he put it that way... "No condoms," he agreed, trying to keep his voice steady.  
  
It was going to be a long night.

* * *

The cashier looked like she couldn't be more than about seventeen. She stole concerned looks at him as she scanned toothbrush, toothpaste, razor, shaving cream (because Reyes was fanatical about keeping his head shaved), socks (because like hell was he sharing with Reyes), a pack of briefs (Reyes went commando, but Jack did not, and his underwear was getting a bit tattered), and then hesitated with the pillow in her hands.

  
"Sir," she said hesitantly, "are you alright? Do...do you need a place...?"  
  
She thought he was homeless. Jack smiled reassuringly at her. "Friend's visiting," he told her.  
  
That seemed to relieve her, and she smiled back as she scanned the pillow and blanket. Then she scanned the nylon rope and the lube, and the smile froze. Woodenly, she put the last two items in the bag with the other toiletries and Jack felt his cheeks start to burn as he realized how creepy his explanation now sounded. Without a word, he paid in cash, collected his change, and left.  
  
At least he hadn't bought alcohol, too.  
  
Although...now that he was thinking about it...they _did_ have plenty to celebrate, didn't they? Reyes was able to assume his own form again, they'd consummated their...uh... _feelings_ , and they'd all but wiped Talon off of Europe's map. Jack hadn't had a good, stiff drink in almost a year. It had been even longer for Reyes. Maybe if he got Reyes drunk enough, he could tie the bastard up while he was passed out and enact part of those fantasies in the morning.  
  
Jack stopped at a liquor store for a bottle of whiskey.  
  
Back at the motel, he parked and collected his purchases before making his way to the door. Arms full of bags, he knocked and waited for Reyes to open the door.  
  
"Got you your own razor and shaving cream," he said as he edged inside.  
  
"Good work... _Jackie_."  
  
Jack barely had enough time to feel a thrill at hearing his nickname, hoping that it heralded a sexual encounter. Then Gabriel's fist slammed into his jaw and the world went dark.

* * *

When Jack came to, his head felt fuzzy - which was better than hurting - but his wrists and ankles throbbed. It took him a minute before the fog cleared enough for him to realize that he was tied up, hands behind his back, and propped against one of the two shitty beds. Directly in front of him, Reyes was lounging in the room's only chair, naked. Naked, and _erect_ , and drinking whiskey straight from the bottle. However long he'd been out, it had given Reyes plenty of time to not only arrange things, but also to get drunk enough to be relaxed without being significantly impaired. The bastard looked just as good as he had when Jack first met him: like a goddamn panther with nothing to prove, oozing easy confidence, sexy as hell.  
  
As he hardened, Jack realized that Reyes had stripped him before tying him up.  
  
"I gotta say," Reyes purred, "you look good like that, _Jackie_."  
  
"Only fair," Jack returned huskily. "You look _damn_ good."  
  
Reyes stood and walked closer, bringing the bottle with him, before kneeling in front of Jack. "You like what you see, Jackie? Hmm? You want a taste?"  
  
"God, yes," he breathed, not caring how pathetically desperate he probably sounded.  
  
Reyes took another drink before setting the bottle safely aside, then leaned forward and cupped Jack's head between his hands, holding him steady for a long, smoky kiss that was everything Jack had been craving for almost thirty years.  
  
"Gabe," he moaned as the kiss ended, those whisky lips retreating.  
  
"I've had to listen to you run your mouth for the last _year_ ," Gabriel said almost tenderly. "If you want more, you're going to have to earn it. Beg, Jackie. Grovel for me. Tell me _everything_ I want to hear."  
  
He was giving Jack a chance to atone for having his head up his ass, for letting his pride choke him. If ever there was a time to be brutally honest, he thought, this was it.  
  
"I...don't deserve it," Jack said heavily. "Any of it. My position. _You_. I let my pride get the better of me. I was so...so _stuck up_ , so arrogant. They fed me gilded shit and I lapped it up. I didn't want to admit that I was wrong, that they'd used me, but they _did_." Jack closed his eyes and swallowed, trying to force down the unexpected emotions this was kicking up. "They used me, and I let them. You should have kicked my ass, Gabe," he whispered. "Beat the stupid out of me. I deserve it. I wanted to be your equal, your superior, to make you look up to me the way I looked up to you, but I'm just white-bread trash. I don't deserve your admiration. I don't deserve to be an object of your lust. I don't even deserve your hate, but fuck, Gabe...I'm such a pathetic, needy bitch that I want you any way I can get you. Let me suck your dick. Fuck me in the ass. Carve your name into my chest, brand my hip like a cow, tattoo 'Property of Gabriel motherfucking Reyes' onto me like a prison tramp stamp. Just don't leave me alone, Gabe." Jack was mildly surprised to find that there were tears on his cheeks, that when he opened his eyes to turn his pleading gaze towards Gabriel's stony visage, his eyelashes were clumped together. "Please. I'll do anything you want. Please, Gabe."  
  
Gently, the pads of Gabriel's fingers trailed down Jack's cheek. He closed his eyes again as Reyes leaned forward, held his breath as Gabriel's tongue swept delicately up from his chin to the corner of his eye.  
  
"Your tears taste good, Jackie," Reyes murmured into his ear. "And hearing you beg like that..." He uttered a low, purring sound of arousal that shot through Jack like muted lightning, making him almost uncomfortably hard.  
  
"Use me," Jack gasped. "Please."  
  
Reyes stood up, the head of his penis now waving at roughly eye level. "You'd like that, wouldn't you, Jackie? You're a greedy cock-gobbler, you want to drink my cum."  
  
Jack leaned forward as much as he could, stretched out his tongue, and caressed that hot, salty, velvet-soft skin. The deep groan Reyes let out made him whimper.  
  
"You make a good argument," Reyes said harshly. "If you puke on me, I'm leaving you tied up."  
  
That's all the warning Jack got before Reyes shoved his cock into Jack's mouth. One surprised choke, and then Jack closed his lips and breathed resolutely through his nose. Reyes was big enough that he barely had room to move his tongue but he did what he could, licking and bobbing, caressing that velvet-steel length while his own erection grew increasingly uncomfortable. Reyes made maddening sounds of pleasure, leading Jack to moan and whimper around his shaft. Then suddenly hands were in his hair and he sucked in a deep breath and held it just as Reyes thrust forward, deep enough that his pubic hair tickled Jack's nose, and shot his load. Jack swallowed frantically, still trying to hold his breath so he didn't choke, and gave one last suck as Reyes pulled out, releasing his hair with a sigh and flopping backwards onto the bed.  
  
Over the next two minutes, Jack humped frantically (and awkwardly) against Gabriel's shin, ignoring the pain in his arms and legs to force his dick between leg and bed, his head on Gabriel's thigh as he whimpered and moaned, trying desperately fruitlessly to get some relief. Reyes was unresponsive, breathing deeply, and Jack was afraid he'd gone to sleep, but finally he drew in a deep breath and stirred.  
  
"Fuck, you're a good bitch," he breathed. Slowly, he sat up. "Knock that off, it's weird."  
  
Jack froze. Reyes moved to kneel beside him, one hand going to the knotted rope around his wrists and the other...  
  
...the other hand wrapped around his cock, and he nearly came right there. But then Gabe started stroking him, his mouth on Jack's neck, biting and sucking, and he just couldn't take it anymore. Release felt _so good_ , lightning melting his bones, and his heart pounded with the knowledge that Reyes was _marking_ him, he meant enough to the other man that he was laying physical claim to Jack.  
  
Reyes stood up. "If you tie me up in my sleep," he said casually, "I'm going to break both your legs."  
  
The rope was loose; Jack's arms screamed as it fell away and he toppled over, choking out curses and rubbing feeling back into his extremities. Reyes knelt beside him, one arm around his shoulders holding him up while the other pressed the whiskey bottle to his lips. Jack gulped the liquor down gratefully.  
  
"That's your share, Morrison," Reyes said as he pulled the bottle away. "Remember: if I wake up and you've used that rope on me, you're going to be limping until your bones heal."  
  
By the time Jack got up off the floor, Reyes was in the shower. He almost missed the silently quirky cloud of black smoke he'd been living with, but then his fingers crept up to the hickey on his neck and he felt like a goddamn teenager. It was hard to say what was more responsible for him feeling warm and relaxed: that, the whiskey, or the afterglow. While Reyes showered, he tidied up and started sorting the bags of their haul. Reyes joined him at some point, picking a wardrobe out of confiscated clothes, and then grabbed his new pillow and blanket and claimed one of the beds. When Jack was done, he turned to discover that Reyes had finished off the whiskey and was sprawled on his blanket, wearing nothing but a subconscious smirk. Jack considered the rope, but his past fantasy couldn't compare with his current reality. Jack bundled the rope back up instead, changed into a pair of pajama bottoms, and turned off the lights.  
  
Reyes _cared_ about him. Maybe it was possessive, maybe it was dismissive, maybe it was cold and predatory. But Reyes had been aroused by Jack, jerked him off, and marked him. It was more than Jack deserved, and better than he thought it would be. After close to thirty years of being where the buck stopped, not to mention a year of Reaper being dependent on him, it was...refreshing...to have Reyes give the orders again and be the one following them.  
  
Jack thought about snuggling up to Reyes, stealing a kiss from those whiskey-stained lips or leaving a mark of his own, but in the end he chickened out and crawled into his own bed to marvel silently at the fact that Reyes hadn't killed him yet.

* * *

Reyes was a puddle of mist on the other bed when Jack woke up, something that sent a jolt of alarm through him.  
  
"Gabriel, what's wrong?" he demanded, kneeling by the other bed, hand hovering uncertainly over the substance. "Are you okay?"  
  
Slowly, the cloud curdled and formed a semisolid hand flipping him off. Jack leaned back with a sigh of relief.  
  
"You worried me," he said quietly. "I guess...being yourself still takes some work, huh?"  
  
The hand gave him a thumbs up.  
  
"You want some of your revolting pizza for breakfast?"  
  
Another thumbs up.  
  
Jack pulled a few slices of questionably edible Hawaiian pizza out of their cardboard box and laid them gingerly inside Reaper's - Gabriel's? - wispy substance. Like a school of microscopic piranhas, it curled around them and they vanished. The cloud formed a semisolid hand again and made a 'bring it on' gesture.  
  
"More? Okay, hold on." This time, Jack brought the whole box and laid it gently down. "Breakfast in bed. Don't say I never did anything for you, Reyes."  
  
That got him flipped off again.  
  
"You're welcome," he said dryly. "I'm going to shower. Don't eat my pizza."  
  
When he got out of the shower, of course, Reyes was back to himself and dressed in jeans and a hoodie, eating his pizza. But he'd planned for that, and covered his scar before he emerged.  
  
"Good, you're up." Jack grinned. "Hold the fort and I'll bring you coffee."  
  
Before Reyes could react, he was out the door and climbing into the car. It didn't take long to get a breakfast sandwich and two coffees from some fast-food place. He ate the sandwich on the drive back, and Reyes met him at the door with a scowl.  
  
"You left without me," Reyes growled.  
  
"You ate my pizza," Jack retorted, handing him a cardboard cup. "Here. Black, like your heart."  
  
Reyes took it and let the door swing shut. "Don't do that again, Morrison."  
  
"Don't eat my leftovers."  
  
"I'll eat whatever the fuck I want. _Don't go out alone._ What if someone recognized you? What if someone _attacked_ you?"  
  
The reminder that Reyes _cared_ felt like a punch to the gut and brought to mind Reaper curdling frantically after he'd almost been killed. Jack put his coffee down. "Okay," he said, hearing his voice shake just the slightest bit. "From now on, we'll go out for breakfast together."  
  
Reyes put his coffee down, too. "Damn straight we will. You're _mine_ , asshole. No one gets to kill you but _me_."  
  
Then Jack was being kissed, fast and rough, one hand on the back of his neck and the other around his waist, Gabriel's teeth nipping almost hard enough to draw blood. Jack kissed back just as fiercely, biting Gabriel in return. It was a minute and a half before they broke apart, tongues flicking out to test bruised flesh for blood as they glared at each other. Silently, they drank their coffee.  
  
"We'll dump the latest stuff first," Reyes said as he dropped his cup in the trash, fury gone as if it had never been there. "Buy some big suitcases or duffel bags to hold our things. The last few Talon bases aren't worth blowing up; too much chance of collateral damage. We'll go in, kill everyone, trash the servers, and leave. No looting. In, out, and on to the next one. Knock them out as fast as possible, bBam-bam-bam, and then get the hell out of Europe."  
  
"And where are we going?" Jack asked, throwing his cup away as well. "Russia? The Middle East?"  
  
"Watchpoint Gibraltar," Reyes said smugly. "We'll ditch the car, steal a boat, and see if there's anything still flightworthy enough to take us across the Atlantic."  
  
"And then what?" Jack frowned. It wasn't that he didn't trust Gabriel's tactical mind, he just wanted more detail.  
  
"You know that name that keeps coming up in Talon reports? Sombra? I did some checking the last couple of bases. Sombra's a hacker. Talon traced her to the Dorado area. If Sombra's been a pain in Talon's ass..."  
  
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend," Jack murmured. "We _do_ have a lot of information to trade. Assuming you think Sombra is trustworthy."  
  
"We don't exactly have a lot of options, Jack. We're the only ones who know we're alive. _You_ might get a hero's welcome if you come out of the shadows, but I won't."  
  
Jack grimaced. "Even if we tracked down one of the others, explaining what happened..." He broke off. "What _did_ happen, Gabriel? Why were...why _are_...you...?"  
  
"Angela found me," Reyes sighed. "I got caught in one of the first blasts. Lots of shrapnel. Hurt like fuck. She said something about nanites and injected me and then ran off to get more help, but before she got back..."  
  
"The entire place went up," Jack finished grimly. "So you were...incinerated?"  
  
"Bet the boys at the SEP never imagined our enhanced healing would be able to bring me back from _that_ ," Reyes said smugly. "Even _with_ whatever Terminator nanites Angela injected me with."  
  
Groaning, Jack sat on the foot of 'his' bed. "All this time, it was you, and you didn't _tell_ me."  
  
"Don't you even _start,_ Morrison. You were a better friend to a fucking _cloud of smoke_ than you were to me the last couple of years!"  
  
"You were better company as a cloud of smoke," Jack shot back. "Asking me how I felt about you? That was a dick move, Reyes."  
  
Reyes cracked his knuckles. "I seem to recall your answer was that you wanted to kick my ass for something that _wasn't my fault_ and you maybe wanted a _relationship_. You even _try_ to kick my ass, and it's _your_ ass that'll get kicked. You'll wind up bruised with my dick up your butt."  
  
"Maybe that's what I _want_ ," Jack shot back mockingly.  
  
"Later." Reyes smirked. "We've got work to do. Business before pleasure."  
  
"Such a romantic, Reyes."  
  
"Shut up. If I'd offered a year and a half ago to beat you up and fuck you in the ass, you would have canceled everything else and scheduled a private meeting in your office."  
  
Jack couldn't deny that, although he really, really wanted to. Especially when Reyes laughed at his expression.  
  
"Let's just...get to work," he muttered.

* * *

Wiping out the last Talon outposts was easier than Jack anticipated. They only had a handful of "employees" each, and Reyes dealt with those while Jack handled the intel aspect. Since they'd opted to not convert their latest stash of valuables into cash, they were able to get all but one base dealt with before Jack declared them done for the night. Reyes demanded cheeseburgers and fries for dinner, so Jack covered his scar and obliged by going to a drive-through and ordering enough to feed both of them twice over. Once the paper bags had been passed over, he handed them to Reyes, who immediately unwrapped a burger and started devouring it,  
  
"Pull into that drug store," he mumbled around his mouthful.  
  
"Why?" Jack asked as he pulled in anyway.  
  
"You're going to buy some hair dye - something nice and dark - a pair of sunglasses for me, a couple bottles of water, extra-strength painkillers, some of those 'meals for old people' nutrient shakes, and the biggest tube of pain-relief cream they have."  
  
"Pulled something?" Jack teased.  
  
Reyes swallowed the last bite of burger and crumpled up the wrapper. "It's for you. I'm gonna beat the shit out of you tonight, and you're gonna need it to get out of bed in the morning."  
  
The casual way he said that made Jack's pulse jump. "And the shakes? What flavor?"  
  
"Whatever you want," Reyes answered, pulling out another burger. "You're the one who's going to be drinking them to boost your healing."  
  
Blushing, Jack left Reyes in the car and hurried into the store. The clerk smiled kindly at him as she rang him up, and he assumed she thought he was trying to look and act the part of a younger man. Reyes was eating fries out of a cardboard container when he got back to the car.  
  
"Home, _Jackie_ ," he purred, making Jack blush again.

* * *

"Hey," Jack protested as Reyes pulled the bags of fast food away from him and set them on the motel room table. "I'm hungry, you dick!"  
  
"You're about to get your ass handed to you," Reyes countered coolly. "I'm not sleeping in a room that smells like regurgitated cheeseburger. Now take your clothes off."  
  
Jack hated that the only part that _didn't_ get his pulse pounding was 'regurgitated cheeseburger'.  
  
"Quickly," Reyes added, pulling his hoodie off.  
  
It took Jack less than twenty seconds to strip down to his briefs.  
  
The first strike was straight to the gut. Reyes hauled him back upright and socked him in the eye, then swept his legs out from under him. Jack tried to catch himself on the bed on his way down, and half succeeded. That just left him open for Reyes to kick him in the chest with booted feet. Jack tried to protect his vital organs while his eye swelled shut, but all that did was earn him vicious kicks up and down his arms. After that, it was a briefly blinding landscape of pain that slowly resolved into him, on his stomach on the floor, with Reyes straddling him and punching every muscle in his back while cursing him out. His legs felt like they'd been run over in multiple places, his arms throbbed, and about the only places that _didn't_ hurt were covered by his briefs, but nothing seemed to actually be broken.  
  
"That's what you _get_ for assuming it was me," Reyes snarled, one fist catching Jack in the back of the head. "And that's what you get for acting all high-and-mighty that a bunch of pretentious douchebags wanted you to be their poster boy!"  
  
Jack chuckled weakly. "Gotta beat me harder for that one, Gabe," he taunted.  
  
Reyes stood up. "Not tonight, Jackie. We'll have time for that later. Can you move?"  
  
"That depends on what you want me to move."  
  
"I want to get a pillow under your crotch so I'm not smushing your dick when I fuck you."  
  
"Very considerate of you, Gabe."  
  
Jack braced himself and ignored screaming, protesting muscles to lift himself up. Reyes shoved a pillow underneath his groin, then slid one under Jack's head as well. Rustling sounds from the other side of the room made him wonder what Reyes was up to, and then he was kneeling by Jack's head, holding two pills in his fingers and a bottle of water in his other hand.  
  
"Take them now," he said firmly. "Between them and the endorphins, you should be able to eat by the time I'm done."  
  
Obediently, Jack let him push the two painkillers into his mouth and sucked at the bottle until he'd gotten them both down.  
  
"Good, Jackie," Reyes grunted. "You're a miserable piece of shit, but you owe me for _thirty years_ so I'm going to make sure you're around to make it all up to me."  
  
"Thirty years of making it up to you?" Jack asked quietly. That would mean...  
  
"That's right, asshole," he answered in that almost-tender tone. "New Year's Eve, thirty years from now, I'm going to fuck you one last time and then strangle you. So you're not allowed to die before then. If I have to give you a blood transfusion and infect you with the Terminator nanites to make sure you survive that long, then that's what I'll fucking do."  
  
Thirty years together. The rest of their lives. Either the warm, floating feeling was the endorphins already kicking in, or it was knowing how important he was to Reyes. "What's the matter, Gabe," he taunted through the aches. "Had one taste of white bread Morrison and it ruined you for anyone else? Were you pining for my ass? Did you _actually_ love me?"  
  
"Shut up, Morrison."  
  
"Why didn't you just kick my ass, Gabe? Didn't want to _hurt_ me? Or maybe you just didn't have the _cojones_ to take what you wanted."  
  
Warm fingers jerked his briefs down. "You're about to have my _cojones_ in your ass," Reyes growled.  
  
Jack bit his lip to keep from groaning at that. "Promise?" he mocked.  
  
Skin against his skin as Reyes leaned over, practically covering him. Breath against his ear. "Oh," he murmured, making Jack shiver, "I _promise_."  
  
Teeth worried gently at Jack's earlobe. Then they withdrew, and he felt the warm slide of Gabriel's tongue against his shoulder, the gentle touch of his lips as he left a trail of kisses down to Jack's shoulderblade. Then the teeth were back, fastened firmly onto his skin, biting until Jack whimpered into the pillow, certain Reyes had drawn blood.  
  
"You belong to _me,_ Jackie," Reyes snarled as he let go. "Don't forget that."  
  
"That fucking _hurt_ , Gabe!"  
  
"Not as much as hearing you blame me," he countered.  
  
Jack kept his jaw clenched, breathing harshly through his nose, until he felt Gabriel's knees push his legs apart. Then the slightly-cool, lube-slimed head of Gabriel's penis pushed against his asshole, and he tried to relax. Reyes slid deeper than he had the previous time, but of course this time he actually had proper lubrication. There was that same teasing push-in-pull-out, but Gabriel's groans were electric and when he finally slid in all the way, Jack couldn't hold back a moan at how it felt to have his - was Reyes his lover? - to have Gabe inside him, skin against his skin, breath against his ear, lips gentle on his shoulder. The way he murmured, "Brace yourself," as if it were a threat.  
  
Reyes started slow, like an old locomotive building up speed. Jack had thought it felt good before, but having Reyes slide in and out so slickly felt _amazing_ , and judging by the noises he was making, Reyes agreed.  
  
"Fuck, Jackie, you're so _tight_..."  
  
"Gabe," he panted as a slight angle change meant Gabriel's dick caressing his prostrate, "I'm gonna...oh..."  
  
Stars burst behind his eyes and he was dimly aware of sticky warmth against his navel, more concerned with everything Gabriel's body was doing: the teeth gripping his shoulder as he spurted inside Jack, the hot breath as he panted against his ear, the heavy warmth of his torso pressed against Jack's back, the cock softening in Jack's ass.  
  
"What do you think," Reyes murmured, his voice warm and inviting. "Once more, or are you ready for dinner?"  
  
Jack's stomach grumbled. "I'd like to have some meat inside me that's not you," he teased, and Gabriel's laugh made his heart flutter.  
  
Reyes kissed the bitemark he'd left on Jack's shoulder. "Fair enough. Don't move."  
  
"You don't have to tell me twice," he groaned. The painkillers and endorphins may have meant he wasn't in _agony_ , but he still had no desire to actually use his abused and aching muscles.  
  
Jack lay on the floor for a handful of minutes, listening to cloth rustling and Reyes walking around. Then fingers tugged his briefs back up and Reyes was kneeling beside him, pulling one of Jack's arms around his shoulders while his arm went around Jack's waist.  
  
"Ready?" he asked quietly. "Three, two, one-"  
  
Reyes stood, hauling Jack to his feet. His briefs threatened to slide down again, and Jack hastily grabbed at the elastic band to pull them back up, wincing at the pain in his arm as he did.  
  
"To the bed," Reyes murmured, turning them towards the bedcovers that had been arranged into a comfortable-looking mound. "Easy now. You can do it."  
  
It was two shaky steps and then Reyes helping him into a sitting position, propped up against the mound. Jack let his eyes slide shut and focused on taking deep breaths until his body stopped protesting the movement, and when he opened them again, Reyes was offering him the faux-chocolate nutrient shake.  
  
"Drink it," he said firmly. "I'll pour it down your throat if I have to, but you need those nutrients."  
  
Jack tried to take the bottle, but his arm trembled too badly. "I think you're going to have to," he said. "You worked me over too hard."  
  
That didn't deserve a response, apparently, because Reyes just sat on the bed beside him and held the bottle so Jack could drink.  
  
"Burger first, or fries?" he asked when the bottle was empty.  
  
"I'm not eating cold fries," Jack protested.  
  
Reyes chuckled. "Good call. Don't go anywhere."  
  
It was achingly intimate, having Reyes curled up next to him, offering him burgers and water until his stomach groaned and he protested that he couldn't take another bite. He hadn't dared hope for something this _personal_ in close to twenty years, and now that it was happening, Jack wasn't sure that either the beating he'd been subjected to, or the fact that the one who'd beaten him was the same one kissing stray bits of catsup off his face and tucking a blanket around him, actually detracted any from the experience.  
  
"There's two painkillers and a bottle of water right here," Reyes said, pointing to the items on the table between the two beds. "I'm going to spend the night as smoke, but if you need me, just shout."  
  
"Got it," Jack said. "Thanks, Gabriel."  
  
"You're going to need your strength, Jack," Reyes retorted. "I'm not driving all the way to Gibraltar."  
  
That made him laugh weakly. "Fair enough. Get the lights, would you? I need my beauty sleep."  
  
"You could sleep like Rip van fucking Winkle and it still wouldn't make you beautiful, Morrison."  
  
Jack yawned. "Suck my dick, Reyes."  
  
"In your dreams."  
  
The lights turned out.

* * *

Morning was pain. Dragging himself out of bed to relieve himself was agony, and he _tried_ to be quiet, but he still found Gabriel's arm around his waist and Gabriel's shoulder under his arm, holding him steady so he could pee without falling over. It would be humiliating if it weren't so touching. Reyes guided him back to the bed he'd slept in, but helped him lay down on his stomach instead of just sitting him down, and told him to not move. That was an easy command to follow, and a minute later Gabriel's hands reappeared, spreading warmth over his aching muscles as he massaged the pain cream in.  
  
Jack nearly fell asleep as the angry pain faded. Those marvelous hands urged him to roll over, and he did. The front of his body was treated to the same care, warmth massaged into his chest, abdomen, and the parts of his arms and legs Reyes hadn't been able to reach before.  
  
"Feeling better?" Reyes asked as he went into the bathroom to wash his hands.  
  
"Almost good enough to beat the crap out of you for beating the crap out of me," he called back.  
  
"Keep dreaming, Morrison."  
  
They dressed and packed quickly. As much as Jack wanted to sit down and eat breakfast, they settled for more drive-through and ate on the way to the last Talon outpost. Jack didn't even go in, leaving that to Reyes, who turned to mist in the front seat and flowed out through the rolled-down window. This was a shipping depot, and while Reyes was taking care of things inside, Jack loaded the coupe into the back of a big rig. Reyes came out as a cloud of smoke, then solidified with his arms crossed over his bare chest.  
  
"Where are my _clothes_ , asshole?"  
  
"In the front seat, where you left them," Jack answered calmly. "Car's in the back. Get dressed and we'll get on the road. We've got a long drive ahead of us."  
  
"Dibs on controlling the music," Reyes called as he strolled around to the back of the truck.  
  
"Driver controls music," Jack shouted back. "You volunteering to drive, Reyes?"  
  
"Only if you're going to provide road head, Morrison!"  
  
"Keep dreaming, bastard!"  
  
A wicked chuckle floated out of the back of the truck.

* * *

Thankfully, the truck was one with a sleeper cab. They took turns driving, switching every three hours while they took a break for food or coffee or just to stretch their legs and hit a bathroom, one napping fitfully on the bunk while the other drove. It was past three in the morning when they reached Gibraltar.  
  
"I hope you're rested, Reyes," Jack said as he parked the truck on an empty stretch of road. "It'll be a lot harder to steal a boat in broad daylight, but the only thing keeping me going right now is how badly I need to pee after those last two cups of coffee."  
  
"Old man," Reyes taunted, looking annoyingly alert. "Go sit in the car, I'll take it from here."  
  
Jack climbed out of the cab and went around to the back, pulling out the loading ramp and raising the door, before climbing into the front passenger's seat of the coupe. As soon as he did, though, he climbed back out and moved closer to the front of the truck.  
  
"What the fuck are you doing, Morrison?"  
  
Jack's fingers fumbled at the front of his pants; his answer was a sigh of relief and the sound of liquid hitting the metal floor.  
  
"We're abandoning the truck, aren't we?" Jack asked as the stream wound down to a trickle. "Who's going to care if I pissed in the back?"  
  
"You make a good point," Reyes said, reaching for his own fly. "But for maximum disgust, you should really get it on the walls, too."  
  
Jack chuckled as Reyes aimed his stream high, the arc of urine hitting the walls about six feet up. "You better not mark me like that," he said.  
  
"Don't worry. I prefer _seeing_ my mark on you."  
  
Cheeks warm, Jack retreated to the coupe and settled into the passenger's seat again. The last thing he saw as his eyes slipped shut was Gabriel sliding into the driver's seat, grinning.

* * *

"Wake up, asshole."  
  
Jack didn't wake up. "Fuck off, Reyes," he muttered, shifting a little in the car's seat.  
  
"Fine, don't wake up."  
  
The world tilted crazily, and Jack found himself in a fireman's carry, being hauled like so much luggage down the dock to a smallish luxury vessel and dropped unceremoniously onto a built-in couch.  
  
"I got everything out of the back seat and the trunk," Reyes said as he tugged at the ropes securing the boat. "Did you have anything hidden anywhere else?"  
  
Jack rubbed his eyes and tried to think. "No."  
  
"Good. We should be at the Watchpoint in less than an hour."  
  
He tried to go back to sleep, but the noise of the engine and the motion of the boat tugged at him. It felt like forever before Reyes cut the engine and they drifted to the dock of the abandoned Overwatch facility. It was dark, it was quiet, and the gentle rocking of the boat lulled Jack back to sleep.  
  
Until, of course, he tumbled suddenly to the deck.  
  
"Get up, Morrison," Reyes barked at him. "I'm not carrying your ass inside."  
  
Grumbling, Jack followed Reyes off the boat and through the hole he'd chewed in the fence, past scattered bits of debris and into the facility proper. Reyes led him down dark hallways until they came to the living quarters, then jerked him into a room and pushed him down onto a bed. His head hit the pillow, and consciousness ceased to be a thing.


	3. The lost art of keeping a secret

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's bound to be a learning curve and some adjustment in any new relationship, and sometimes it can be awkward when your friends find out accidentally. All things considered, the "you're alive" monkey wrenches could have been much worse.

Jack woke up to the soft, inoffensive lighting of the Watchpoint base stabbing his eyeballs like a million tiny knives. However long he'd been asleep, it was not _nearly_ enough. As he cursed and flung one arm over his face, cursing again at lingering stiffness and aches in the limb, something hit his chest.  
  
A protein bar, he realized after he went from prone to upright so fast he didn't remember how he got out of bed. Reyes was standing in the doorway, chewing on another protein bar and laughing at him, the bastard.   
  
"Very funny, Reyes."  
  
"Glad you think so, too. That's breakfast, by the way. We're eating MREs until we get off of this rock."  
  
Jack sighed and picked the compressed chunk of nutrients up from where it had fallen on the floor. "Great."  
  
"Good news is, no one's been here in a year."  
  
"What's the bad news?" he asked with a grimace as he tore the wrapper open.  
  
"The main systems are offline. We've got light and perimeter cameras, but nothing else."  
  
"You mean there's no hot water?"  
  
"You got it."  
  
"Okay, _that's_ our first priority," Jack declared. "I'll get on that, you check the hangar and see what we've got to work with. We'll meet in the kitchen for lunch."  
  
Reyes finished chewing the last piece of his protein bar and swallowed. "Say please."  
  
Jack frowned. It was too fucking early for Gabriel's shit. "I'm not saying-" At the last second, he stopped himself from saying _please_ even as part of a declaration that he wouldn't say please.  "I'm not saying that."   
  
He tried to leave the room, but Reyes blocked the doorway. "Say please."  
  
The look on his face - cold, predatory, _hungry_ \- sent a thrill down Jack's spine. "Or what?"  
  
"Or you're not leaving this room, Jackie."  
  
Decisions, decisions. If he gave Reyes what he wanted, he'd be able to leave the room...but was that _really_ what Reyes wanted? What would happen in the room if he said no? Was he going to miss out on something if he did say 'please'?  
  
Jack grabbed the other man by the front of his hoodie and spun him around to slam into the wall, mouth immediately on Gabriel's mouth, kissing insistently. That only lasted a few seconds, though. One hand crept up to hold Gabriel's head steady by closing around his throat, the other drifted to the front of his pants to stroke him through the cloth while he repositioned his mouth onto Gabriel's neck, sucking and biting. Reyes struggled a little, but Jack tightened the hand holding his throat until he went still, and then the other hand slipped inside his pants to stroke _without_ the cloth getting in the way.   
  
When he heard Reyes utter a choked-back curse, Jack pulled his mouth away and murmured, "Say please."  
  
"I'm going to make you choke on my cock."  
  
"In your dreams."  
  
Reyes smirked. "That's not what you said the other night."  
  
Before Jack could think of a retort, Reyes hooked his leg around Jack's and pulled, pushing against the wall as Jack toppled and falling with him to the floor, landing on top and pinning Jack's wrist with his own while Jack's other hand was trapped between them, still wrapped around Gabriel's manhood. The bastard ground against him a few times, making an appreciative noise. Furious, Jack did the only thing he could think of: he jerked harder.   
  
"Oh, yeah," Reyes murmured, lowering his lips to Jack's throat. "Harder, Jackie. Mmmm."  
  
Hearing Reyes enjoying what he was doing, feeling his lips and teeth start to leave their mark on his throat, Jack gave in and tightened his grip. Gabriel's mouth left his throat and he started kissing Jack, fiercely, desperately, hips driving against Jack again and again as his climax neared. Then he gasped, hot fluid slipping between Jack's fingers, and rolled over with a sigh to lay on the floor, using Jack's arm as a pillow.   
  
That was fine as far as it went, Jack thought, but it left him aroused and wishing he dared demand some compensation.   
  
"I like the way you say _please_ , Jackie," Reyes murmured.   
  
One of Gabriel's hands was laying on his chest. Jack held his breath and reached up to take it by the wrist and pull it down to his groin. He licked his lips. "Please," he whispered.  
  
Reyes chuckled. " _Now_ you say please? Fine."  
  
The fingers of Gabriel's hand fumbled at his fly, slipped inside to take him in an electric grip. Now it was Jack's turn to gasp and moan, "Harder!"  
  
Reyes tightened his grip; the motions sped up. Lightning struck. When the stars faded from his sight, Reyes was holding his forgotten protein bar over his mouth. Jack started to ask why, but the instant his lips parted, Reyes shoved it between them.  
  
"You're still healing, Jack," he chided. "Eat. Heal up so I can do that to you again. I'll be in the hangar; you get the power turned back on."  
  
And the bastard walked out.

* * *

As Jack made his way down to the generator, he realized what had sparked that little power struggle. He'd given Reyes an order, taken charge the way he had for the last thirty years. That wasn't their dynamic anymore; Reyes gave the orders now, and if Jack forgot that, he'd be put _firmly_ in his place. The thought of rebelling purely for the repercussions of that act made him shiver in delicious anticipation, but he forced himself to focus on the generator. Thankfully, the main power was off by design. The last ones to leave the Watchpoint had powered the generator down, and a year of neglect hadn't done anything to it. Jack took it back through the power-up procedure and went to the command room to see if anything else had suffered.   
  
Naturally, the system required him to log in before it would tell him anything. Jack rattled out his passphrase and pressed his thumb to the biometric panel, and only as everything powered up did it occur to him that anyone using Overwatch systems would be able to tell that he was alive, and where he was. But Overwatch had been shut down, so that shouldn't be an issue.  
  
Everything was checking out okay. The all-important hot water was heating up. Security reported movement, and he checked the screens to confirm that it was Reyes, which it was, headed for his location. As Reyes sauntered through the door, a connection from another Watchpoint opened. Jack silently cursed the trust protocol that meant the connection just _opened_ to video without asking anyone to authorize it first.  
  
"Commander!" Winston looked beside himself. Well, at least it was Winston. "You're alive! What...what happened to you?"  
  
"Talon grabbed me," Jack said shortly.  
  
"And they've had you this whole time?" Winston sounded horrified.  
  
Jack frowned. "What? No, why..."  
  
"Then...if Talon didn't...your face..."  
  
Fuck. The beating Reyes gave him. The bruises must not have cleared yet. "We've been assaulting Talon bases," he said carefully.  
  
"Oh. Well, that makes sense then. But...uh..."  
  
"But what?"  
  
Winston pointed gingerly. "What happened to your neck?"  
  
"My neck?" Jack felt it carefully with his fingers, but here was nothing except...  
  
Shit, Winston had seen the hickeys.  
  
"Yeah, Morrison," Reyes purred from behind him, "what happened to your neck?"  
  
"Don't you even start with me, Reyes," he snapped, but the bastard chuckled and slid one arm around his waist.  
  
"A little late for that, Jack, don't you think?"  
  
If the breath on his neck hadn't gotten him blushing and shivering with anticipation, the feel of Gabriel's lips on his skin would have done it.   
  
"Ohhh..." Winston's exclamation of understanding blended with the breathy moan that slipped out from between Jack's lips.  
  
"Uh...Commander Reyes. Good to see that you're...alive?"   
  
"I didn't betray Overwatch," Reyes snapped at the hesitant tone of Winston's greeting. "I've been with Morrison the whole time. Talon set me up, and I would have died in the explosions if Angela hadn't injected me with some kind of nanite swarm first."  
  
Winston flinched at that. "I believe you," he said hurriedly. "It's just...the, um, _tension_ between you two..."  
  
"Was only ever between _us_ ," Jack said firmly. "We're...addressing the root cause and working out the..uh..."  
  
"I believe I understand the situation," Winston said, his expression stating clearly that he wished he didn't. "So...uh...what course of action are you planning now?"  
  
"Gonna go to Mexico," Reyes said cheerfully, his arm still around Jack's waist. "Try to enlist the hacker who goes by 'Sombra' to help us expose Talon's involvement. Clear my name, let both of us come out of the shadows, that sort of thing."  
  
"We have stolen intel," Jack added. "We'll be uploading it to the server here before we go, in case anything's useful. It's good to see you well," he continued in a more gentle voice. "Aside from Reyes, you're the first Overwatch member I've seen since everything went down."  
  
"We weren't exactly _looking,_ Morrison."  
  
"It's good to see both of you alive and well," Winston said. "Perhaps we can keep in touch?"  
  
"I'll see if there's any secure communication devices still here," Jack promised. "Morrison out."  
  
And the connection, thankfully, closed.  
  
"So...about your neck..." Reyes said with far too much amusement.   
  
"I'd say 'bite me' but you already did."  
  
Gabriel's lips brushed the back of Jack's neck. "I could bite you again."  
  
"With how much you like having me in your mouth," Jack taunted, "I'm surprised you're not choking on my dick."  
  
"Did you _want_ me to bite your dick, Jackie? Because you may have noticed that I like _biting_ you."  
  
"When you put it like that," Jack said in a tight voice, "I'll pass."  
  
Reyes laughed and nibbled at the back of his neck. "One of the two shuttles is still here. It was grounded for maintenance, but we should be able to get out of here tomorrow morning. I want you to dye your hair tonight so we can go around in public without you being recognized."  
  
"And so you don't look like you're fucking an older man?"  
  
Bright pain on the back of his neck was all the answer he got. It hurt, but the act of Reyes visually marking him, _claiming_ him, was exciting and Jack bit back a pleading sound.   
  
"Go shower," Reyes said in a hard voice. "I'll see what I can put together for lunch. You haven't been eating right for the last _year_."  
  
"Neither have you," Jack whispered.  
  
"I'm not the one getting his ass handed to him again as soon as he heals from the last time."   
  
The words were light and warm, teasing and affectionate, and Jack felt a flutter in his belly. This was what he deserved. This was _better_ than he deserved. Reyes knew it was Jack's fault for being a coward, and was going to give him the thrashing he should have gotten _years_ ago for that. But Reyes also _cared_ , and would make sure Jack healed up so that he could endure the next beating without serious injury. It was the best of both worlds: he was getting both the punishment he'd earned, _and_ the tender devotion he hadn't, but craved anyway.  
  
"Not going to join me in the shower, Gabe?"  
  
Reyes groaned into his shoulder. "Fuck, Jackie, don't tempt me like that. You need more than a protein bar in your system for everything I want to do to you."  
  
Well, if _that_ didn't conjure all sorts of delightful images...  
  
"Then how about this?" Jack asked huskily. "I start servicing the shuttle while you make lunch, and then after we've eaten...we shower."  
  
He bit his lip, waiting to see how Reyes responded to a suggestion rather than an order. Gabriel's teeth worried lightly on his earlobe.   
  
"You're on."

* * *

It felt good to work with his hands, Jack thought. He'd never liked the paperwork that came with his position, the cage of red tape that he'd been trapped in for close to thirty years. Being chained to a desk just sucked the vitality out of him, sucked the joy out of life, and he felt a tiny shard of gratitude that Talon had freed him from that. He was finishing the last steps of servicing the shuttle when a proximity alert went off, the one meant to warn the crew in the hangar that a friendly ship was incoming.   
  
Jack dashed across the hangar for the base-wide intercom. "Reyes! We've got incoming, friendly flag!"  
  
Weapons. There were no _weapons_. Jack ran back to and ducked behind the shuttle as the small ship came in for a landing. It was an Overwatch shuttle, but he couldn't see the registration from his angle. He _could_ see Reyes skid to a stop in the doorway, Jack's pulse rifle in his hands. Good.  
  
The shuttle landed. The hatch opened. A slim figure in a mask stepped out, holding a sniper rifle that looked...familiar. The figure strode over towards the intercom, and something about her gait...  
  
It was impossible. But, of course, so was everything that had happened to Reyes. Just before the figure reached the intercom, Jack stood up and stepped out into the open.  
  
"Ana?"  
  
The figure whirled around and exclaimed, "Jack!" in an achingly familiar voice. She did something with her mask, and it retracted.  
  
Her hair had gone more grey than black, her face was worn and lined, and there was a patch over her right eye, but it was Ana Amari.   
  
"I thought you were dead," he called, smiling, as he strode towards her.  
  
Ana smiled back. "I thought the same about you!"  
  
They met in the middle of the hangar and hugged fiercely.   
  
"You look good," Jack said quietly when they separated. "Ana...I'm so-"  
  
One finger on his lips cut him off. "You made the right choice. The decision to remain behind, to hide myself from you all, was mine. I wish I could return your compliment," she said with more than a hint of worry in her tone, "but you look like hell, Jack."  
  
Jack resisted the urge to squirm, hyper-aware of the marks on his neck. "I'm...fine. Reyes!" he called over his shoulder. "Get out here and say hello!"  
  
Ana's eyebrows rose. "Gabriel is here as well? Have you worked out your differences, then?" Her expression soured into a scowl as her eye traced the bruises on his face again. "Or are you two still fighting?"  
  
"Yes," Jack muttered as Reyes got close enough for Ana to hug.   
  
"Yes?" she repeated. Then her gaze dropped to Jack's neck, and she peered sharply at Gabriel's neck as well. One finger lightly touched the mark Jack had left there. "I see. Well, you are both mature adults - in theory - so however you choose to conduct your affairs is your own business, so long as it is consensual."  
  
"It's consensual," Jack assured her, flushing.  
  
"I was just preparing lunch," Reyes said warmly. "Come, join us. We can catch up over food and tea."  
  
Ana smiled. "How domestic of you, Gabriel. Lead the way!"  
  
Reyes offered her his arm. She took it laughingly, and Jack followed the other two as they walked through the main building to the staff kitchen. It was comfortable enough that it almost could have been the old days, before he became Strike-Commander. They laughed and joked as Reyes argued various shelf-stable foods into an array of surprisingly edible dishes, tradied bits of outrageous things they'd done as they set the table. Reyes taking a personal interest in what Jack ate was a new element, but one that was more than welcome as far as he was concerned. He added foods to Jack's plate, declaring that he needed to eat healthier, and Jack ate them without complaint.   
  
"No more," Jack protested finally as Reyes looked ready to serve him more chicken. "I'm full."  
  
Reyes looked unhappy at that, but he put the serving spoon down. Ana looked back and forth between them.  
  
"I am surprised to see you two like this," she said delicately. "I had always assumed that of the two of you, _Jack_ would be the one to be fussy and nurturing."  
  
"He had his chance," Reyes joked. "He fussed over me for a year until I regenerated enough to be more than a cloud of smoke. Now it's my turn, because Ana...Jack is _shit_ at taking care of himself."  
  
"I had to avoid being identified," Jack protested. "I couldn't exactly buy fresh produce and cook it myself!"  
  
"You could have bought a salad once in a while! You didn't even buy a multivitamin," Reyes shot back. "You _know_ our metabolism needs certain things, Morrison! I'm almost surprised you didn't develop some debilitating health problem, eating the crap you did for an entire year! So from now on, I'm going to make _sure_ you eat healthy, whether you like it or not. At least you stopped drinking yourself to sleep," he finished in a dark mutter.  
  
"Jack?"  
  
He winced away from Ana's question. "Things got worse between us after we thought you died. I didn't cope very well."  
  
She frowned. "I think it's time you two told me the full story."  
  
Jack sighed and followed the other two as Ana led the way to a lounge with soft couches and inviting chairs. He was full almost to bursting, Reyes cared, and Ana was alive. He didn't really want to ruin the comfort of those three things by discussing how badly he'd fucked up in the past. Ana picked her seat first, settling gracefully into a chair. Reyes flopped down on one end of a couch, leaving Jack with the choice of sitting in the chair beside Ana, or sharing a couch with Reyes. The sharp look Reyes gave him as he took a step towards the chair, however, made the choice for him and he gingerly lowered himself onto the other end of the couch.  
  
"You're still healing, Jack," Reyes said quietly. "Sleep if you need to."  
  
That was an excuse Jack fully intended to take whether he was tired or not. He shot Reyes a grateful look and leaned back, letting his eyes slip closed. The soft back-and-forth of the voices of his two best friends wove a net of complacency around him, and he left himself drift.

* * *

"Wake up, Jackie," Reyes murmured, his lips tugging lightly at Jack's.   
  
Jack grumbled inarticulately, slipping back into sleep once the annoying stimulus went away. Moments later he gasped, the fog of drowsiness breaking up with the motion of something warm and wet on a very sensitive part of his body. He grunted and clutched the arm and cushions of the couch as the realization that _Gabriel's head was between his legs_ brought him swiftly to full attention.   
  
"Gabe!" he gasped, unable to think past the sensations to form a more coherent exclamation.  
  
"Mmm?"   
  
The vibrations made Jack's eyes roll back, and he groaned. He wasn't going to question why Reyes was giving him oral, too afraid he'd stop. He didn't need to worry; a pleasantly blurry amount of time later he gasped out, "Gabe, I'm c-" and then the world was washed away in a blinding haze.   
  
"Getting better," Reyes said as the world came back into focus. "You still taste nasty, though."  
  
"I'm...sorry?" Jack mumbled vaguely.  
  
"Just means I need to feed you good things and check again in a few days. Come on, off the couch. Ana's in the command room talking to Winston and _you_..." Reyes grinned. "...need to take a _shower_."  
  
Anticipation sent a thrill through Jack and he hurried out of the lounge, his pants held closed with one hand. Back in the room Reyes had claimed for them, he let the pants fall and tugged off his shirt before sitting on the bed to remove his boots and everything else. Reyes had misted out of his clothes, the bastard, and was testing the temperature of the water already.   
  
"Lube's on the side table," Reyes called over the sound of the shower.   
  
Jack grabbed the tube, surprised by how nervous he felt. It was like being a goddamn teenager and fooling around in his bedroom, the thrill of the forbidden combining with a frisson of fear. Back then, it was the fear of discovery by his parents. Now, it was the uncertainty of not knowing what Reyes would do to him, only that it would probably hurt and make him feel treasured at the same time.   
  
The shower stall was bigger than he was expecting, easily big enough for two people who weren't particularly close. This must be the commander's bedroom, then. Jack hadn't paid much attention to where in the facility they were. Reyes frowned at him as he handed the tube over, making him suddenly wonder what he'd done wrong.   
  
"No more on the face," he muttered. "Don't need to be advertising things to the world. Get in, Jackie."  
  
Obediently, Jack entered the oversized shower stall, and Reyes pulled the door closed.  
  
"Into the water," Reyes commanded, "then back out. Hands against the wall."  
  
Jack let himself get thoroughly drenched, then braced himself on the wall while Reyes attacked him with body wash and something rougher than a washcloth. Then a stronger spray of water joined the motion of whatever Reyes was scrubbing him with, heat and pressure combining into a sort of massage that felt relaxing and energizing on the muscles Reyes had abused just two days ago. It was disappointing when the attention ended.  
  
"Here, do your front," Reyes said shortly, handing him the poofy scrubbie and squeezing a generous amount of body wash into it before retreating to the far side of the shower.   
  
The sudden shift from closeness to distance left Jack feeling emotionally off-balance. "What about you?" he asked, scrubbing his chest.  
  
"What _about_ me?"  
  
Jack looked away, pretending to focus on one arm. "Do I get to wash you?"  
  
"If you put your hands on me," Reyes said sternly, "it's going to end with my dick in your mouth. If I put my hands on you again, it's going to end with my dick in your ass. Your choice, Jackie."  
  
"Those are both good choices," Jack said, trying to sound casual. "So why don't you sound happy about them?"  
  
"Because I want to _hurt_ you," Reyes hissed, fists clenched, "but you're not healed from last time. I want you on your hands and knees, leaving bruises on your hips from how tight I'm holding you as I fuck you. I want you against the wall, my knee pinning you in place as you choke on my dick. I want to leave bitemarks down your shoulders, on your chest, _but you're not healed_."  
  
It was moderately alarming how much Jack _wanted_ Reyes to hurt him, but at the same time, deeply touching that he was refraining out of respect for Jack's still-injured state.   
  
"Pain doesn't have to leave a mark," Jack said quietly, setting the scrubby poof on a shelf. "Tie me up, like you did before. Pull my hair. _Use_ me, Gabe."  
  
"It's not the _same_ ," he snarled, glaring. "I want to _damage_ you, Jackie. I want to _see_ my handiwork."  
  
"Where?" Jack demanded, taking a step closer to meet that glare. "Where on my body do you most want to see it? Because I _want_ it, Gabe! I _want_ to be damaged, to have you mark me, to know that you..." He broke off, fuming, unsure of what he was trying to express. "Pick a spot. One spot. That one spot, you can damage as often as you want and not let it heal because _that_ will be your permanent mark on me. I owe you for thirty years, remember? Didn't it hurt, every day, when I didn't apologize? So now it's your turn. Hurt me, every day. Because if you don't..." Jack realized he was trembling. "If you don't...then what am I to you?"  
  
Slowly, the glare cooled to a look of disdain, and Jack felt his heart sink into his stomach. Then there was a hand around his throat and the tile wall slammed into his back, making him see stars.   
  
"You don't decide what I do," Reyes growled into his ear, feet holding his feet apart, hand pinning his wrist to the wall, the entire length of his body pressed against Jack's. "You're _my bitch_ , Morrison, whether I hurt you or not. _Never_ forget that. Never _doubt_ that. Your life is _mine_ , got it?"  
  
Jack sucked in a breath, but couldn't think of anything to say past 'yes', and that by itself wasn't enough. The hand on his throat tightened when he didn't answer. "Yes," he choked out, and the pressure let up.   
  
Reyes stepped away from him, the suddenness throwing Jack's balance off, and he found himself on his hands and knees. Gingerly, he sat back on his heels and realized the water had been turned off.   
  
"Get out," Reyes commanded. Then, before Jack could wonder if he was being banished, "Bring me a towel."  
  
Scrambling, Jack got to his feet and fumbled the shower door open. There were towels on a shelf; he grabbed one and turned around to discover Reyes standing on the mat in front of the shower door. Hesitantly, he offered Reyes the towel, but the bastard just raised one eyebrow in a silent, sarcastic question of what the _fuck_ Jack thought he was doing. Slowly, Jack sank to his knees and started rubbing Reyes dry. He couldn't resist kissing that wet skin before rubbing terrycloth over it, and when Reyes didn't tell him to stop, he was grateful that the wetness of the shower masked the tears of relief he couldn't hold back. He hadn't fucked up. He hadn't been rejected. He was Gabriel's bitch and they'd be together for the next thirty years, making up for the _last_ thirty years.  
  
Jack hadn't made a sound, but Reyes must have heard something in his breathing because when Jack got to his arms and chest, he wrapped one hand around Jack's throat again and bent down to lick the salty drops off his face.   
  
"I told you, Jackie," he murmured, "your tears taste good."  
  
"Gabe..."  
  
"Get on the bed," Reyes ordered, shoving him away.   
  
Towel forgotten, Jack picked himself up and sat uncertainly on the bed, shivering slightly between his wet skin and the droplets tracing cold fingers from his hair down his back.   
  
"Not like that. On your belly."  
  
Jack lay down and rolled over, hugging the pillow, listening for Gabriel's footsteps going back into the shower for the lube, but that didn't happen. The footsteps came closer to the bed, and then Reyes was climbing over him, belly pressed to Jack's back, arms sliding under Jack's to brace himself. Lips brushed the worst of the bitemarks Reyes had given him as if testing the bruised skin.   
  
"Brace yourself," Reyes murmured. "This might hurt."  
  
Jack had just enough time to bite the pillow before a sudden, heatless searing sensation burned on his left shoulderblade, a buzzing burn like nothing he'd ever felt before. The fabric did its best to muffle the scream that fought its way out from between Jack's clenched jaws, and he was pathetically grateful for Reyes holding him down in a full-body hug as his world narrowed to that point of agony and the warm weight of Gabriel's body on his.   
  
After an indeterminate length of time, the searing pain subsided into a hot throbbing, and Reyes ordered him to stay still before climbing off of him and out of bed. He came back a minute later with two painkillers and a cup of tap water, and Jack swallowed them without even needing to be told.  
  
"The bleeding's stopped," Reyes said with a frown, "but I want to put a sterile pad over it to keep fibers and dirt out of the wound. Hold on."  
  
Again he left Jack's field of vision, and it was a handful of minutes before he came back to rip the paper wrapping off an adhesive-bordered gauze pad and press the pad onto Jack's shoulderblade.  
  
"What did you do?" Jack whispered.  
  
"I marked you. This is all you get until you're healed from the last beating, Morrison."  
  
Jack reached over his shoulder, trying to touch the bandage, but flinched away from the throbbing area. "But...how...?"  
  
Reyes bared his teeth in something more threat than grin. "You've been kissed by the Reaper, Jackie, and you lived to tell the tale. Now get dressed, I need to start dinner."  
  
Kissed by the Reaper. Jack thought of the disintegration damage he'd seen in hundreds of corpses over the last year. That's what that pain was? Did he have a kiss-shaped hole in his shoulder where the skin had been literally eaten away? If he'd wanted proof of ownership, he couldn't have asked for anything better.  
  
"Gabe, wait," Jack said as Reyes started to pull clean clothes out of their bags. Climbing out of bed was slow and messy; every motion of his left arm felt like a hot poker going through his shoulder. "Let...let me thank you. Please," he added as Reyes gave him a skeptical look.   
  
"You really are thirsty for my cum, aren't you?" Reyes asked, not waiting for an answer. "Fine, get over here." He knocked the bag of clothes off the armless chair it had been on and sprawled in it, legs spread.   
  
Gingerly, mindful of the raw wound on his shoulder, Jack crossed the room and knelt between Gabriel's legs. He was partially erect already from Jack's request, head peeking out from its protective ring of foreskin, and Jack hesitated for a moment before lowering his head to lick, breathe gently, and lick again. Reyes groaned, his cock swelling, and Jack braced one hand on his thick thigh. It was somehow more terrifying to be doing this of his own volition than it was to be tied up and have Gabriel's dick thrust into his mouth. Responsibility, Jack thought as he took Reyes into his mouth. If he was tied up and forced, he couldn't be held responsible if his performance was sub-par. But doing it of his own volition, any mediocre performance was wholly on him.   
  
He didn't want to disappoint Gabriel Reyes.   
  
His forced performance had passed muster, though, so Jack did his best to emulate it. He dove down, filling his mouth, frantically licking that velvety skin, careful to keep his teeth out of the way. No subtlety, no technique, just hungry desperation and the lightning of Gabriel's gasps and appreciative moans making him suck harder, inch deeper, until Gabriel's pubic hair tickled his nose and Gabriel's hands on his head held him in place while he held his breath and swallowed, trying not to choke or gag. Then Gabriel's hands fell away and he sighed. Jack sucked as he pulled back, swallowing a mouthful of saliva and cum, and looked up to admire the blissful expression on Gabe's face.   
  
"God, you're a good bitch," Reyes breathed. "Now put some clothes on and grab me some, too. You're going to help me make dinner."  
  
He'd been marked _and_ he'd made Reyes happy. Despite the pain in his shoulder, Jack felt surprisingly good.

* * *

"It smells delicious," Ana said as Jack and Reyes finished putting dishes on the table. "I am astounded that you managed to make actual food out of the provisions left here."  
  
Reyes grinned. "You grow up too poor to buy real food, you either learn how to get creative or you starve. Jack helped, but mostly by handing me things and taste-testing."  
  
"Well," she said warmly to Jack, "I am glad to see you and Gabriel working so well together again. I think this is the happiest I've seen both of you in over twenty years."   
  
"We do work well together," Jack said, stifling a wince as he sat down and jostled the wound on his shoulderblade.   
  
"Jack, are you hurt?" Ana asked sharply. "Your shoulder - did something happen after lunch?"  
  
"He's fine," Reyes said firmly.   
  
"He does not _look_ fine, Gabriel."  
  
"I'm fine," Jack insisted. "It's...I asked him for a...it's something that represents...it's a mark of devotion."  
  
Ana didn't look convinced.  
  
"I'm taking care of him, Ana," Reyes soothed. "There's a waterproof sterile bandage over it, and I'm making sure he eats what he needs to in order to heal quickly. The cut on his face was much worse, and it healed in about a week. I wasn't involved in that," he added quickly, hands up in a gesture of disavowal. "Talon did that. I didn't have a body at that point. Jack, don't just sit there listening to us, start serving yourself."  
  
Guiltily, Jack started scooping food out of the various dishes. The pain in his shoulder made it awkward, and Reyes picked up his plate to hold it closer for him. Once his plate was full, Reyes gently but firmly told him to sit and start eating, so he did.  
  
Ana let the subject slide as she and Reyes served themselves and started eating, but every motion of his left arm was like jabbing a railroad spike through his shoulder. He didn't argue when Reyes plucked the fork and knife from his hands and cut up the bigger pieces of meat or vegetable for him, and while Ana didn't _say_ anything, the look she gave them was quite eloquent.  
  
"It should stop hurting this much within two days," Reyes said reassuringly, although Jack wasn't sure who he was trying to reassure. "Someone left a good bottle of scotch hidden in one of the cabinets, Jack, so if you need help sleeping tonight, there's that."  
  
"Thanks, Gabriel," he murmured, shoveling beef and rice into his mouth. When his plate was empty, he didn't bother trying to serve himself. The concern Reyes was showing, the use of his first name, meant that he was _important_ to Reyes, and he wanted to wallow in that connection. "Gabriel, can I get more of that?" he asked, pointing to one of the dishes.  
  
"Of course. Anything else?" Reyes asked, ladling vegetables onto his plate.   
  
"Whatever you think I should eat," he said quietly. That got him a look of approval that made his stomach flutter, and he was sure he was blushing as Reyes cut his food for him.   
  
Ana still looked like she had misgivings, but Reyes fussing over him seemed to reassure her, and conversation stayed away from their relationship. When they were all done eating, Reyes laid one hand on his shoulder.  
  
"Don't get up," he said firmly. "I'll clear the table."  
  
Jack covered Gabriel's hand briefly with his right hand. "Thanks."  
  
Reyes gathered all their dishes and silverware, stacked a few empty serving dishes on top, and left the room.  
  
"Jack," Ana said crisply, making his pulse jump. "Is this truly what you wanted?"  
  
"All of it," he said without hesitation. "This is everything I've wanted over the last thirty years. He wants to spend the _next_ thirty years with me. I want to spend them with him."  
  
She nodded. "You understand my concern," she said, her tone making it an apology.  
  
That made him smile. "He won't let anything happen to me, Ana."  
  
"Nothing," Reyes said as he entered the room again, "that I haven't done to you myself. Don't worry, he's consenting. He _likes_ it," he added, warm and teasing. "Don't you, Jack?"  
  
Jack was already blushing, but then Reyes paused behind him and bent over to press his lips against Jack's left shoulderblade, putting pressure on the wound through layers of cloth and bandage. The pain made him gasp, but the reminder - _kissed by the Reaper_ \- made him blush harder.   
  
Ana shook her head, but she was smiling. "I don't know what else I expected from you two," she murmured. Then, louder, "As long as you are both happy with this arrangement, then I am happy you are communicating with one another. However," she said sternly, "if you decide to get married and you do _not_ invite me, you will _both_ regret it."  
  
"You have my word," Reyes said, swooping in to kiss her on the cheek before taking the rest of the serving dishes out to the kitchen.  
  
"It's only been a few days," Jack protested weakly.   
  
"Jack," Ana said gently, "I had to watch the two of you mope around, each mourning the relationship you could have had with the other, for _over twenty years_. Don't try to pretend this isn't a lifetime commitment."  
  
When she put it like that, he really couldn't protest.

* * *

After dinner, Reyes went in search of secure communication devices with Ana while Jack started the mind-numbing process of uploading all their stolen intel to the Warchpoint server. With how much he'd eaten and a lack of adrenaline to convince his body he was in danger, he found himself drifting while the data copied itself. The upside to enhanced healing was, well, enhanced healing. The downside was that accelerated healing tended to take up almost all of his body's resources when not in a dangerous environment. He wasn't aware of how much time had passed before he heard footsteps echoing against the floor and Reyes sat in the chair beside him.  
  
"Almost done?" Reyes asked quietly.  
  
Jack looked at the padded case. The thumb drives that had been uploaded were on one half; the other half was almost empty. "Two more," he said, pulling the latest one out and setting it on the 'done' side.  
  
Reyes watched him carefully pick up the second-to-last drive and plug it in. "How's the shoulder?"  
  
"Doesn't hurt if I don't move it."  
  
"Think you'll be able to sleep without help?"  
  
The thought of lying in bed made him wince. "I don't know."  
  
"I'd ask if you still ache anywhere else, but the painkillers would be masking that. Let's save the hair dye for tomorrow morning. You'll probably need a good, hot shower then anyway."  
  
He yawned, resisting the urge to stretch. "Sounds good. You spending the night as smoke again?"  
  
"Yeah. It's not as easy as it looks, being this sexy," he teased, making Jack blush again.   
  
"Do I need to be worried about you eating right?" Jack asked quietly, not looking at the other man.  
  
Reyes laughed. "I've been getting more vitamins and minerals than you have. If I need iron, I can literally eat a handful of nuts and bolts."  
  
"So when you're healed up all the way," Jack started slowly, "will you still be able to go to smoke?"  
  
Silence stretched as Reyes thought about it. "I have no idea. I'd suggest contacting Angela to see if she knows, but I'm not sure if I'm glad she injected me with Terminator nanites, or if I hate her for it."  
  
The thought of Reyes directing his hatred at Angela made Jack feel weirdly insecure. "If she hadn't, you never would have been able to do any of this to me."  
  
Reyes looked at him sharply while he switched out the drives. "Are you _jealous?_ " he asked incredulously once the last drive had been plugged in. "Are you imagining me punching her in the face and getting upset that it's not you?"  
  
Jack tried to keep his expression neutral, but he could feel the heat in his cheeks.  
  
"You're blushing, Jackie. I think you _are_ jealous." Gabriel's voice got closer. "Don't worry," he murmured into Jack's ear, "you're the only one I hate enough to claim."  
  
Teeth met his earlobe sharply, briefly, a pinprick that made him gasp before they - and Gabriel's breath - retreated.   
  
"I better be," Jack retorted, trying to sound furious and not like his heart was pounding.   
  
Reyes had the balls to _laugh_ , the bastard. "What are you going to do if you're not?" he mocked.  
  
Jack scowled at him. "I'll let someone _else_ kill me."  
  
That wiped the amusement off his face. "You wouldn't _dare_ ," he hissed.   
  
"I would," Jack said evenly. "I'll steal your kill myself, if I have to."  
  
"You're cruisin' for a bruisin', Jackie." The words slid out of Gabriel's mouth, cold and smooth like a blade made of ice.   
  
"Promise?" Jack asked sweetly.  
  
Reyes scowled. "Once you're healed from your last beating," he said darkly. "I _promise._ "  
  
Jack leaned over and kissed him, grinning as Gabriel's lips parted eagerly, teeth nipping once or twice before he pulled back to admire the half-lidded expression of hunger on Gabriel's face. "Last drive's finished," he said, plucking it out and putting it with the others. "Time for bed." Awkwardly, he closed the case before giving Reyes a shit-eating grin. "Help me up so I don't jostle my shoulder?"  
  
Growling under his breath, Reyes took the case in one hand and helped Jack out of the chair before stalking off. Jack made his way leisurely to their bedroom, unsurprised to discover Reyes was already there, shoving freshly-laundered clothes into their luggage. Without a word, he turned to Jack and helped him as gently as possible out of his clothes. The covers on the bed were already pulled back.   
  
"Ana left for wherever she's hiding," Reyes said quietly. "We found the communications gear. We'll keep in touch with her. You going to need help getting to sleep?"  
  
Jack sat carefully on the bed. So far, so good. Laying on his side, however, brought hisses of pain as he tried and failed to find a comfortable position. He rolled onto his stomach, breathing deeply to try to calm and relax pain-tensed muscles. A warm hand on his arm made him open his eyes, and he discovered Reyes kneeling by the bed, holding the bottle of scotch. There was a straw sticking out of it.  
  
"Drink, asshole," Reyes ordered. "I'm not going to listen to you whimpering all night."  
  
The scotch was smoother than he expected, and warmth radiated pleasantly from his belly. "Thanks," he sighed.   
  
"Thank me by going to sleep," Reyes countered, pulling the blankets over him.  
  
The lights went out, and Jack went with them.

* * *

Half-awake, Jack shifted and immediately regretted it as his entire back seized up, pain making him grunt and hold his breath, letting it out in controlled bursts and drawing in sips. Something on the bed shifted, and then Reyes was pulling the covers back. Warm hands massaged heat into his back and shoulders, the pain cream he'd bought at the drugstore.   
  
"Better?" Reyes asked as Jack sighed in relief.  
  
"Much."  
  
"Good. Get out of bed and tell me if you're stiff or ache anywhere else."  
  
Reyes stood back with his arms crossed, infuriatingly naked, while Jack climbed out of bed and tested major muscle groups.   
  
"Arms and legs good," Jack said. "Stomach and chest a little iffy, but that could be related to the shoulder."  
  
"Alright. Hungry?"  
  
Jack stretched his neck gingerly. "A little."  
  
"Breakfast, then," Reyes said, tossing clothes at him and pulling pants on. "After that, we dye your hair and pack. We'll be in the air probably about seven hours going to Mexico, so it's MREs for lunch. Fill up on leftovers, unless you _want_ to be eating protein bars in two hours."  
  
"I'll have leftovers, then," Jack said dryly. "Got a flight charted already?"  
  
"Yup. Sent out some feelers, got a few nibbles. We'll see what happens." Reyes tugged a shirt over is head and clapped his hands. "Come on, Morrison, get your ass to the kitchen and let's get started."

* * *

Jack wasn't sure if he was reluctant to leave the Watchpoint, or relieved. Being in an Overwatch facility was like being home again, but at the same time, he no longer felt like Strike-Commander Jack Morrison, and Overwatch was _his_ home. Living out of shitty motels, staying on the move, _that_ was the home he'd built with Reaper/Reyes. _That_ was the setting in which their relationship had been realized. Even if the Petras Act was repealed, and Overwatch restored, he could never go back to being Strike-Commander. He wouldn't risk losing Reyes, but more than that, he didn't _want_ to go back to the paperwork and the diplomatic bullshit and the bureaucracy.   
  
Dyeing his hair a generic brown just strengthened the feeling of disconnect between Jack as he was, and Strike-Commander Morrison. He held still as Reyes changed the sterile bandage on his shoulder, dressed at Gabriel's command, and - carefully - helped haul luggage and supplies out to the shuttle. Then he was sitting in the co-pilot's seat listening to Reyes tell Winston they'd left the lights on for him, and the engines hummed to life.   
  
Leaving the Watchpoint felt like closing the door on his past, and he wasn't sure what his future held.  
  
Reyes glanced over at him as they climbed to cruising altitude. "You okay, Jack?"  
  
Deliberately, he pressed his shoulders against the seat and felt hot agony bloom from Reaper's kiss, a promise of thirty years unfulfilled. "Yeah. I'm okay."  
  
"Okay." Reyes let it be for a minute or two, then he grinned. "You know what the Mile-High Club is, Jackie?"  
  
Jack's cheeks burned.   
  
"We're going to have several hours with nothing to do but each other," Reyes purred.   
  
Suddenly, the trans-Atlantic flight looked like it would be a lot more enjoyable than he'd thought.


	4. Make it real, or else forget about it

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack and Gabriel have a lot of fun in Dorado, pretending to be on their honeymoon. But fun, even if it's at his own expense, isn't all that Jack wants. Promises were made, and he wants them kept.

"That's the Mexican Omnium," Jack said as they descended through the clouds and their projected route overlaid itself on the world as seen through the front viewscreen.  
  
"Can you think of a better neutral meeting place?" Reyes asked. "Put on your jacket and visor, grab the pulse rifle, and prepare for landing."  
  
"Expecting trouble?" Jack asked as he shrugged, wincing, into the jacket with 76 emblazoned on the back.  
  
"I used your name, since I don't have a wanted poster. So you're going to prove you are who I said you are, and hopefully I made contact with the real Sombra and not someone just _claiming_ to be Sombra."  
  
That wasn't very reassuring. "And if you didn't find the real one?"  
  
Reyes shrugged. "Then we kill them and try again. It's not like I have a list of underworld contacts. This all hinges on how much Sombra hates Talon and is willing to work with people who have a track record of being a pain in Talon's ass." He took a closer look at Jack as he settled the targeting visor in place. "You holding up okay?"  
  
"Adrenaline's a hell of a drug," Jack deflected, sliding back into the co-pilot's seat. "Bring us down."  
  
The Omnium sat like a man-made mountain in the middle of a concrete clearing long since reclaimed by greenery. Jack could see signs of human activity - stumps here and there, saplings that had been torn up and tossed aside - but for the most part, it could have been untouched since the Omnic Crisis ended. As they came in for a landing, Jack saw the overgrown road that led towards Dorado. And, more importantly, he saw that the greenery had been crushed recently.  
  
They would be meeting _someone_ , at least.  
  
Reyes landed with the hatch facing the gaping entrance to the Omnium. "I'm right behind you," he said quietly as he triggered the hatch to open.  
  
Jack took a deep breath, hefted the pulse rifle, and stepped out of the shuttle. A quick sweep revealed no human life within the visor's range, and he frowned. Then the omnics stepped out of the shadows, and he tightened his grip on the weapon. There were at least two dozen of them, ranging from construction units to humanoid models to some who could have passed for heavily-augmented humans, but no combat models. That brought the welcome wagon down from 'we're gonna die' to 'moderately threatening'.  
  
An omnic that looked like a young woman with augmentation on the shaved half of her head stepped to the front of the crowd and stopped about ten yards out, arms crossed. "What's the password?" she called in a clear challenge.  
  
"Password?" he hissed at Reyes.  
  
"Don't look at me," Reyes hissed back. "I didn't set one up!"  
  
"I didn't set one up," Jack called to the woman.  
  
The crossed arms dropped, and she nodded. "That's correct. So, you are Soldier 76, wanted for destroying every Talon base in Europe?"  
  
"That's correct," Jack said.  
  
"And behind that mask, you are Jack Morrison, supposedly dead since the explosion in Zurich."  
  
"I didn't mention that," Reyes protested, alarmed.  
  
"What makes you think that's true?" Jack asked warily.  
  
The woman - Jack couldn't think of her as being an omnic, she looked too human - sauntered a few steps forward. "Your messages came from the Watchpoint in Gibraltar, shortly after Jack Morrison logged into the Overwatch systems. You gonna try to deny it?"  
  
"So what if I am?"  
  
She smiled sharply. "If you are, we negotiate and work together. If you are not...you don't leave here alive. Ball's in your court, amigo."  
  
Between her expression and their surroundings, that phrase reminded jack uncomfortably of Mayan ball games and human sacrifice. He shouldered the pulse rifle and reached up to remove the visor.  
  
"I am Jack Morrison," he said slowly.  
  
The woman smiled brightly, an almost alarmingly friendly expression after the subtle threat of just a moment ago. "Good! I am Sombra. Who's your friend in the ship?"  
  
Reyes stepped out beside him, arms crossed. Sombra _squealed_ and clapped her hands, looking for all the world like a teenage girl meeting her idol.  
  
"Papi Gabriel! You're alive! Ah, this is _such_ a good day!" Behind her, the crowd of omnics seemed a little more relaxed.  
  
"Something you're not telling me, Reyes?" Jack murmured slyly.  
  
"Shut your mouth, Morrison," he shot back. "Oy, chica, what you talking about?"  
  
"It's what we call you," she said. "Papi Gabriel, the world's gang boss, the patron saint of not tolerating bullshit."  
  
"And yet," Jack muttered, "you put up with me for _how_ long?"  
  
"Shut _up_ , Morrison."  
  
Sombra took another handful of steps towards them, grinning broadly, and clapped her hands. "So, we need to get you some fake ID, a vehicle, someplace to stay in the meantime...and we need to talk about your plans. That about sum things up?"  
  
"Food," Reyes said. "Food and a place first, then identification, then we talk."  
  
"Ah, but before we get that far," Sombra said slyly, "we have to talk about _payment_."  
  
"We have cash," Jack said firmly. "And we have information."  
  
Sombra's face lit up at 'information'. "Good. Move your ship into the Omnium, get it out of sight. We will load your things into a van and take you to a safehouse in Dorado."

* * *

The trip to Dorado was less monotonous than Jack had been afraid it would be. He and Reyes sat in the back of a van, along with Sombra and their luggage, while one of the pass-for-human omnics drove. Sombra asked about what really happened in Zurich, what they'd been up to, and Jack let Reyes do the talking. His snarky banter dovetailed perfectly with Sombra's brassy attitude, and it was good to see him so relaxed and _happy_. Jack let the chatter wash over him, quietly reveling in the gentle throb of Reaper's kiss on his shoulderblade, and didn't realize the discussion had turned to their new identities until Reyes suddenly called his name sharply.  
  
"What?"  
  
Reyes grinned at him. "I said, let's get married."  
  
"Why?" he asked, trying to ignore that Sombra looked _delighted_ and that he was probably blushing.  
  
"I want to make it illegal for you to have sex with anyone but me," Reyes answered, casually confident panther, damn him. Then he leaned over and murmured, "I want you legally bound to me for the rest of your fucking life."  
  
Jack was _absolutely_ blushing. "Until you kill me?" he murmured back.  
  
Breath on his ear, lips on his earlobe, the pinch of teeth. "Damn straight."  
  
"I agree," Jack choked out.  
  
Reyes laughed. "Now we just need to pick a surname. Would _Guerrero_ be too much of a giveaway?"  
  
Sombra shook her head. "Nah. It's common enough. So, Jack and Gabriel Guerrero, then? And where were you married?"  
  
"Los Angeles?" Jack suggested, but Reyes shook his head.  
  
"Las Vegas. You popped the question drunk, we got married drunk, consummated it drunk, and now we're on our honeymoon."  
  
"Such a romantic," Sombra murmured, rolling her eyes and grinning. "You sure you want to be married to this _pendejo?"_ she asked Jack.  
  
"He's too good for me," Jack shot back. " _He's_ the one who might have buyer's remorse."  
  
Reyes grinned. "My only remorse is that I didn't _clear your schedule_ two decades ago."  
  
"Honeymoon," Sombra said as Jack blushed. "Good call. Perfect cover story. Put away your jacket, we will be arriving soon and no one needs to know who _else_ you are just yet, hmm?"  
  
Wincing, Jack shrugged out of the jacket and let Reyes stuff it into their bag of clothes.  
  
The van let them out at a quaint-looking bed-and-breakfast. Sombra bounced inside, exchanged a handful of words Jack couldn't make out with the older woman who seemed to own the place, and bounced back out to hold the door for them.  
  
"Room five, upstairs, all the way back," she announced. "Your cash is international, right?"  
  
"International credits," Jack confirmed.  
  
"Good. I'll give you an hour to settle in, go talk to some of my _friends_ , and be back with lunch. We can discuss everything else then. Got any requests?"  
  
Reyes rattled out a paragraph in Spanish. All Jack could make out was the names of some foods.  
  
"You got it, Papi," Sombra said, snapping Reyes a vague salute. "Don't break him _too_ hard."  
  
Blushing, Jack marched up the stairs and all the way back to room five. Reyes followed, chuckling under his breath. The room had a king-size bed in the middle, a bathroom off to one side, two bedside tables, a window opposite the bathroom, a small closet, and two dressers.  
  
"Looks like we're sharing a bed," Jack said with a challenging grin for Reyes.  
  
"You make it sound like we'll both be sleeping in it," he shot back. "Smoke, remember?"  
  
Well, that took all the fun out of it. Jack put the cases down inside the closet and tried not to show the disappointment he was feeling. When he stood up, Gabriel's arms wrapped around him from behind, and his lips pressed Jack's shoulderblade until he gasped at the sharp pain.  
  
"You're _my bitch_ , Morrison," Reyes murmured. "Nothing changes that."  
  
"Gabe..."  
  
"You're such a needy little fuck, Jackie," Reyes murmured tenderly. "Didn't get enough of my cock on the flight?"  
  
"We're jet-lagged," Jack said quietly, pulse pounding. "If we don't try to nap, we'll be falling asleep at dinner."  
  
"An hour's not going to do much," Reyes said reluctantly, "but you're right. Fine, get into bed."  
  
Reyes released him, and Jack sat on the bed to take his boots off. That was the extend of their undressing, apparently, because Reyes threw himself onto the left side of the mattress, not bothering to get under the covers, and stretched out on his back with his eyes shut. Jack crawled carefully onto the mattress and laid down on his stomach, waiting for the pulsing pain in his shoulder to subside. A soft sound, cloth against cloth, and then he felt Reyes grab his wrist.  
  
Sleep came easily.

* * *

Pain, lancing through his shoulder, brought Jack instantly to full alertness. That alertness included Gabriel's body pressing down on his, and lips brushing his neck.  
  
"Rise and shine," Reyes growled. "Sombra brought food."  
  
His body retreated, only to help pull Jack up and out of bed. The nap hadn't done much. Jack followed Reyes to a homey little dining room, where Sombra was arranging take-out trays. There was a stack of small tortillas on one, next to piles of things like cheese and lettuce and tomatoes, and the other held strips of beef and chicken, peppers and onions, some kind of rice and refried beans. The scents made Jack's stomach growl loud enough that both Sombra and Reyes chuckled.  
  
"Water for my hungry husband," Reyes half-asked, and Sombra vanished into the kitchen.  
  
It would have made Jack blush if he weren't so hungry. He wasted no time sitting by the food and pulling a tortilla onto a paper plate. As he reached for the serving utensils, though, Reyes smacked his wrist.  
  
"I'll make them for you," Reyes scolded. "You just eat."  
  
Sombra came back with two glasses of ice water and sat across from them to watch in amusement as Reyes filled tortillas and placed them on Jack's plate before serving himself. Jack shamelessly stuffed his face because not only was he hungry, but this was the first _real,_ fresh food he'd had in longer than he cared to think about.  
  
"It's going to take a bit for my contacts to get you American IDs that will get you over the border," she announced. "Once I have those, I'll put you on a plane to New York. There will be a car in your names waiting for you there."  
  
Reyes frowned around his mouthful, swallowed, and said, "You don't want us to take out the Talon bases in the area first? They know you're in Dorado; that's how we found you."  
  
"I have my own plans for Talon," she said firmly. "I want their attention away from here. I've got the frequency of your communicator; I'll send you secure messages pointing you at Talon bases in the United States. But until we get your IDs, just wander around and do tourist honeymoon things."  
  
Reyes nodded to concede the point. "I'm going to be fairly recognizable," he warned.  
  
Sombra grinned. "I know. What would you say if someone came up to you and asked, _What would Papi Gabriel do?_ "  
  
"He'd kick the ass of anyone dumb enough to ruin his honeymoon by revealing his identity," Reyes growled, making Sombra clap her hands in delight.  
  
"Perfect! Don't worry about being recognized, either of you. In fact..." she peered at Jack. "Can you hide the scar? Look more like Jack Morrison?"  
  
"I can hide the scar," Jack assured her.  
  
"Good. You're both supposed to be dead, so some 'Morrison and Reyes secretly honeymooning in Dorado' sightings will distract everyone pretty well. Talon knows who you are under the visor, but they don't know who the cloud of black smoke is. Rumors that Gabriel Reyes is alive will make them _very_ nervous."  
  
"You're a wicked girl, _chica_ ," Reyes chided her, but there was admiration underneath the insincere disapproval.  
  
"You were my role model," she shot back, making him laugh. "Oh, one more thing. Jack's ID won't have the brown hair. I assume you dyed it, so you'll have to dye it back before you go to the airport. I'll keep in touch and let you know when your IDs are ready. In the meantime, have a _siesta_ so you're rested for the evening. Enjoy the nightlife. Try not to get arrested," she said with a smirk in Gabriel's direction.  
  
"I make no promises," Reyes replied with a straight face.  
  
Sombra laughed. "Enjoy your honeymoon, you two. We'll talk payment when I can deliver my side."  
  
Reyes toasted her with his water as she stood up; Jack toasted her with the tail end of his latest filled tortilla. They ate in silence for a few minutes after she'd  left, and Jack was somewhat surprised that the food seemed to be running out faster than the room in his stomach. Reyes would have told Sombra how much food to bring, and he knew how much they both could pack away, so...  
  
He shot Reyes a questioning look.  
  
"What?" the bastard mumbled through his mouthful. "You know long it's been since I've had actual good food?"  
  
So that's why - Reyes was stuffing himself every bit as much as Jack was. He tried to hide his amusement by taking a drink, but the scowl he got suggested that didn't work very well.  
  
"Shut up and eat," Reyes growled, spooning the last bits of everything evenly into the last tortillas and dividing them between their plates.  
  
Jack shut up and ate, quietly reveling in the thought of Reyes being just as full and sleepy as he would be. Sure enough, when the food was all gone, Reyes leaned back with both hands on his stomach and belched.  
  
"Time for that siesta," he announced, and Jack wasn't going to argue.  
  
Finding a comfortable position, however, proved to be a challenge. With how raw his mark was, sleeping on his back was out, but sleeping on a full stomach wasn't even remotely comfortable.  
  
"On your side," Reyes growled, irritated with all the shifting Jack was doing - and the accompanying sounds of pain.  
  
"But-"  
  
The protest died as Reyes got up and walked around the bed to climb in on Jack's side. Awkwardly, he moved closer to the middle and bit his lip as Reyes spooned him, left arm draped over Jack's side to hold his arm in place.  
  
"Now _sleep_ ," he said sternly, breath tickling the back of Jack's neck.  
  
Comfortable, full, and cradled against Gabriel's chest, Jack drifted happily off.

* * *

Jack had never been one for "nightlife". As he and Reyes walked around Dorado, admiring the lights and the sights and the scents that wafted through the air, he admitted to himself that having someone to experience nightlife _with_ probably made all the difference. They didn't stay in any one place for long. A drink or two, a quick snack, long enough to be seen and then they were gone, back out on the street, on their unhurried way to the next place. Initially, it was overwhelming being around so many people, and Jack found himself canvassing the crowd out of habit. No matter where they went, someone with glowing, skull-themed art on their face was lurking around the edges, watching them with a bodyguard's stance. Reyes was in his element, laughing and smiling and joking in Spanish or English, depending on if it was a tourist or a local. He turning down men and women making flirtatious comments by grabbing Jack around the waist, announcing they were on their honeymoon, and kissing him on the neck, the jaw, the cheek, or the lips. Jack's blush invariably got good-natured laughter from the audience and Reyes lavishing a proud, smug look at him.  
  
Several times, a local _did_ ask Reyes what Papi Gabriel would do, and when he delivered his prepared reply in a tone offering casual violence, everyone in earshot exploded into raucous cheering. Usually, someone pressed a drink into his free hand - the other one being occupied with laying physical claim to Jack in some way. Reyes would take a sip, then offer it to Jack and encourage him to drink it by nibbling his earlobe, much to the crowd's vocal approval. Jack stopped caring about the skull-faced bodyguards after the first few drinks, or much of anything for that matter except how _happy_ Reyes was, and how much better this was than anything he'd dared dream of when he'd fantasized about confessing his feelings thirty years ago.  
  
Jack was vaguely grateful that part of being enhanced meant that it was harder to get drunk, because he quickly lost track of how much they'd both been drinking but he couldn't bring himself to care because it was making Gabriel loose and relaxed, the confident, sexy panther he'd fallen so hard for, and more than once he dragged Jack into a knot of people dancing. Jack wasn't sure how to dance, especially not in his inebriated state, but he tried to mimic what other people were doing and not think _too_ hard about the suggestive moves Gabriel was making.  
  
He didn't manage that very well. Especially not when he leaned in to nibble Gabriel's ear for a change and was rewarded with a groaned "You're killing me, Jackie."  
  
Somehow, they were in the corner booth of a restaurant. Gabriel was feeding him something - he wasn't sure what - and urging him to drink from a glass of water. Every bite, every sip, was rewarded with a kiss. Jack was a very obedient boy. Then there were no more bites, no more sips, only kisses.

* * *

Waking up hung over was not a new experience for Jack Morrison. He groaned as light stabbed through his eyelids like disappointment made physical and rolled over to bury his head under the pillow, sullenly grateful that it hadn't been his alarm that woke him and muzzily trying to orient himself in time. Light but no alarm meant weekend, which meant he wouldn't have to face Reyes and his look of scorn until noon, maybe two if he was lucky. Goddamn bastard judging him silently. It was _his_ fault Jack drank, how could he be as sexy at almost sixty as he'd been at thirty? It just wasn't _fair_ , it had been _one mistake_ , did he really deserve to be punished for the rest of his life?  
  
Maybe he did. Maybe he deserved Reyes being coldly furious at him, backhanding him, pinning his hands above his head while he licked...licked down Jack's collarbone to...to his chest, and down...  
  
Jack groaned again as his body struggled to achieve full arousal despite his hung-over state. Damn Reyes, this was all _his_ fault. No one should be allowed to be that sexy, especially not in public, smiling at him and leaning in to kiss, to nibble...  
  
Memory came rushing back. He wasn't Strike-Commander of Overwatch, sleeping in a sterile room in Zurich. He was "Jack Guerrero", Papi Gabriel's unofficial husband, and they were in a bed-and-breakfast in Dorado. At least, Jack _hoped_ they were in the bed-and-breakfast, because the last thing he remembered was making out with Reyes in some restaurant. He didn't remember if he'd gotten laid, but given how his head felt, he would not have been surprised to learn he couldn't rise to the occasion. Had Reyes gotten any action? Jack wasn't sure if he hoped that Reyes, at least, had gotten off or if he hoped that Reyes had refused to do anything with a man whose ability to consent was questionable at best.  
  
With a shiver, Jack remembered Reyes groaning "You're killing me, Jackie." That was it - he hoped that Reyes had gone to bed unsatisfied, because that would make him so much _hungrier_ today.  
  
Footsteps in the room, scraping against his eardrums. A glass of water set on the bedside table and the quieter clicks of two painkillers. Jack forced his right arm to move, and warm fingers caught his hand.  
  
"Good," Reyes said softly, "you're awake. Come on, sit up."  
  
Slowly, they got Jack upright enough to swallow the pills and down the entire glass of water. Then they laid him back down, and Reyes sat on the edge of the bed with one hand on Jack's unmarked shoulder.  
  
"Why aren't you hung over?" Jack rasped.  
  
Reyes, damn him, chuckled. "I made you drink most of the free drinks I got. Watching you try to dance was the funniest shit I've ever seen _in my life_."  
  
"Glad you enjoyed it," Jack muttered sourly.  
  
"Didn't you?" His voice was warm and teasing and _inviting_.  
  
Jack cursed softly under his breath. "Yes."  
  
"Despite being too drunk to get it up," Reyes continued.  
  
More cursing. "Yes."  
  
"You made promises you couldn't keep, Jackie," he purred.  
  
He didn't doubt that he did. "So what're you going to do about it?"  
  
Reyes stood up. "I'm going to get you more water, because as soon as the painkillers kick in...I'm holding you to them."  
  
"Didn't collect anyway?" Jack muttered.  
  
Breath on his hair, on his ear. "It's not the same if I can't hear you, Jackie."  
  
Hung over _and_ hard. Torture that Jack had to admit he deserved. While Reyes was gone, he tried to drag himself to the bathroom but only succeeded in rolling onto his back which, thankfully, did _not_ cause a spike of pain through his left shoulder. Reyes returned, helped him up to drink, and then half-carried him to the bathroom and left him there. Twenty minutes and a hot shower later, Jack emerged with a towel around his waist, wondering with a little thrill exactly what he'd promised while he was drunk.  
  
Reyes was lounging on the bed, reading something on his pad, the clothes he'd been wearing strewn across the floor. He gave no reaction to Jack coming out of the bathroom, sitting next to him on the bed, or even letting the towel fall.  
  
"So," Jack said, suddenly uncertain in the face of this indifference, "what did I promise last night?"  
  
"You said you'd give me head so good, my eyes would explode," Reyes said, trying to sound bored and disinterested instead of struggling to hold back laughter. "You also assured me that since I respect strength, you'd kick my ass first."  
  
Jack nearly choked at the audacity of his drunk self. "And you're going to hold me to that?"  
  
"Well..." Reyes smirked at him. "You can _try_ to kick my ass, but we both know how that's going to go so I'll let that one slide for now."  
  
"You want me to give you head so good your eyes explode."  
  
"You tried," Reyes said in that bored tone. "You almost poked yourself in the eye and you actually passed out with my dick in your mouth, sucking like a baby with a pacifier."  
  
That _did_ make Jack choke, and he was sure he was blushing a brilliant red. "Did you get off?" he asked, cursing himself for that being his first thought.  
  
"I pulled out. Was afraid if I did get off, you'd puke all over my junk."  
  
" _Would_ you have gotten off?" Jack asked before he could stop himself.  
  
Reyes looked furious, although who he was furious _at_ was up for debate. "Yes."  
  
It took what felt like forever before Jack stopped laughing, and Reyes looked ready to murder someone.  
  
"You think that's funny, Jackie?"  
  
The ominous note in his voice sent a shiver down Jack's spine. "Uh. Yes?"  
  
"Joke's on you, then. Pick up where you left off. Succeed, and I'll let the 'exploding eyeballs' bit slide."  
  
That sobered Jack up. Reyes was _serious_ , he'd been aroused enough by Jack suckling him that he wanted the climax he'd been denied, and he wanted it _badly_. Jack crawled down the bed and positioned himself between Gabriel's legs. Suckle like a baby. Not something he ever thought he'd be doing, but neither was honeymooning in Dorado. Hesitantly, he took Reyes into his mouth and gave a few experimental sucks. Then, ignoring the slight sounds of appreciation that got, he adjusted his position and laid his head on Gabriel's thigh, nuzzling slightly to be sure he was comfortable, like he'd just fallen asleep. _Then_ he resumed sucking, slow and even.  
  
It was a unique experience, laying there and sucking gently. The sounds Gabriel was making were getting him hard, but he resisted letting the urgency he felt bleed over into what he was doing with his mouth. It had to have been a slow climb, but he guessed anticipation was enhancing the experience because Gabriel's soft sounds changed to a steady chant of 'oh, oh, oh,' and then, two words that made Jack's pulse jump: 'don't stop'.  
  
Gabriel Reyes was _pleading_. Not just pleading, but pleading for him to keep doing what he was doing, with his mouth, to Gabriel's dick. Keeping that slow, steady rhythm was one of the most difficult things Jack had ever done.  
  
"Oh...don't stop, Jackie, don't stop."  
  
It was a fevered stream of babbled syllables, like Gabriel was barely capable of forming thoughts, let alone words.  
  
"Don't stop, Jackie, I'm close, oh...don't stop...oh, Jackie, don't stop, I'm cumming, I'm c-"  
  
Thick, sweet-salt semen coated Jack's tongue and he swallowed, focusing on the memory of Gabriel practically _begging_ for Jack to keep sucking gently.  
  
"Ohhhhh... _fuck_ , Jackie, that was so good. I forgive you for passing out."  
  
"And your eyes?" Jack couldn't resist teasing.  
  
Reyes was slumped against the headboard like his bones had melted, eyes closed. Jack almost expected to see him dissolve into black smoke. "Consider them exploded," he said lazily.  
  
Driven by his own need, Jack crawled up the bed to nibble on the side of his neck. "I hope not," he murmured, voice buzzing against Gabriel's skin. "I like looking at your eyes."  
  
"You're a sap, Jackie," Reyes said, but the only heat in the words was the warmth of afterglow. "Mmm. I bet you're hard right now."  
  
"Like a rock, Gabe. Listening to you..."  
  
Laboriously, Reyes lifted one hand and wrapped it around Jack's manhood, making him moan into Gabriel's neck. The motions were jerky and uneven, but knowing that he'd reduced Gabriel to this more than made up for it, and it almost no time he was sinking down to rest his head on Gabriel's shoulder and twine his fingers around Gabriel's cum-slicked ones.  
  
Almost two minutes passed before Reyes declared, "Stop snuggling and clean me up, or I'll kick your ass."  
  
He'd gotten two minutes out of it. Jack wasn't complaining. Cheerfully, he padded into the bathroom and came back with a warm washcloth. Reyes didn't move as Jack carefully cleaned off his fingers. The rest had splattered on Gabriel's abdomen, and Jack wiped it up quickly before leaning in for a brief kiss. As he leaned back to climb out of bed, however, Gabriel's left hand shot up to grab him around the throat and he could see the dark sliver of one eye watching from under his drooping eyelid. Reyes pulled Jack back over for a longer, deeper kiss that culminated with nipping his lip almost hard enough to draw blood before the hand around his throat dropped back to the surface of the bed.  
  
Jack found Gabriel's discarded clothes easily and tossed them to him before pulling out clean clothes for himself. Although Reyes tried to play it cool as they went downstairs for breakfast, his posture was too relaxed for it to be the truth, and Jack followed obediently so that Reyes wouldn't see him smile.

* * *

Dorado was just as beautiful in the morning as it had been the previous evening, and Reyes was just as in his element. The crowds were thinner, but the locals were bolder and Jack was half convinced he would spend the rest of his life blushing as Reyes smirked and the locals nodded in understanding when he introduced "my husband, Jack". They knew exactly who he was, hair dye or no.  
  
The statues didn't help.  
  
It seemed like every plaza had the same set of statues, the original Overwatch Strike Force spread out heroically with Gabriel Reyes in the center. No matter how many times they saw the same cluster of statues, Reyes always stopped to admire them for what felt like an excessive amount of time and brushed Jack off with "shut up, I'm memorizing this" until at least two minutes had passed.  
  
A handful of times, he turned around and struck the same pose so a local could take his picture.  
  
Petty as it was, Jack found himself getting jealous of the attention Reyes was paying to the city itself, regardless of all the possessive kissing and nibbling being lavished on him. By the time lunch started sounding like a good idea, all he wanted was to go back to their room and have Reyes hold him to his _other_ promise from last night.  
  
"This place looks good," Reyes said as they came up to a little cafe. "What do you think, Jack?"  
  
"Let's get it to go," he answered a little sulkily. "I still have a promise to be held to."  
  
Reyes snorted. "I'm not kicking your ass before lunch."  
  
"But you won't kick it after lunch, either," Jack complained.  
  
That got Reyes looking at him as if he'd just now noticed that his trophy faux-husband was unhappy. Which, Jack thought, was probably the truth. "Do you hurt anywhere?"  
  
"No." Jack resisted the urge to cross his arms and pout.  
  
Reyes draped his arm over Jack's shoulders, hand pressing against the Reaper's kiss until pain made him gasp as it shot down Jack's spine.  
  
_You're my bitch, Morrison, whether I hurt you or not. Nothing changes that._  
  
They'd be out of the city in a few days. He had thirty years to make up. He could wait a little longer for his promised thrashing.  
  
Reyes led a docile Jack inside the cafe, giving the mark an extra squeeze as he informed the hostess they were on their honeymoon, and lavished a slightly-sharp smile on him as they sat down. "Pain doesn't have to leave a mark, remember," he murmured as they waited for the waitress. "Let me order for you."  
  
Heart pounding, Jack nodded. No doubt Reyes would order something hellishly spicy for him, and he'd choke down every bite because this was the punishment Reyes had chosen to inflict on him. The waitress came by; Reyes ordered in Spanish. She smiled and left to put their orders in. A minute later, she came back with ice water and a glass of milk that Reyes set aside with a smile for Jack.  
  
"Later," he murmured. "If you're good, I won't make you beg for it."  
  
Jack swallowed. Part of him was just a little afraid of what he was in for, but another part exulted in their little drama playing out in public where no one would know what was _really_ happening.  
  
When the food arrived, Jack had no idea what he was eating past identifying components, but it was delicious. He smiled at Reyes, who smiled back, and then the burn started to kick in. It wasn't so bad at first, but then the sweating started and Jack suspected it would ramp up quickly, so he ate as though he were starving, trying to get as much down as possible before the heat _really_ kicked in. Ice water, he knew, wouldn't quench the fire in his mouth. He tried to smother it with a mouthful of beans, or rice, but his eyes were watering and his tongue felt like he'd been french-kissing Reaper. About three-fourths of the way through his entree, he had to stop. If it was just pain, he would have kept forcing himself through the motions, but his eyes were watering too badly for him to see so he sat there, eyes closed, trying not to pant like a dog or whimper.  
  
He heard Reyes stand up, felt warm fingers urging his chin up and lips on his cheek, tongue tasting him, and then a napkin gently wiping his eyes. "Your tears taste good, Jackie," he murmured in Jack's ear. Then, louder, "How's that?"  
  
Jack cautiously opened his eyes and sniffed. "Better," he said hoarsely.  
  
Reyes reached across the table and handed him the glass of milk. "Sip," he advised. "Don't gulp. Swish it around."  
  
Obediently, Jack sipped and swished, and some of the fire went out. He'd intended to try to finish his lunch, but found that Reyes had switched their plates and was devouring whatever hell-meal he'd ordered for Jack, and leaving the remnants of his own, milder entree in exchange. It was mostly rice and beans, but Jack nibbled at it and sipped his milk and smiled gamely at the waitress as Reyes paid.  
  
The walk back to the bed-and-breakfast was comfortably quiet, Gabriel's fingers occasionally painfully tight on Jack's wrist. Jack's stomach, though, started feeling uncomfortably like the searingly hot peppers in his lunch were curdling the milk he'd chased it down with.  
  
"Indigestion?" Reyes asked as he closed the door to their room.  
  
Jack just kicked off his shoes and nodded before laying gingerly down in bed.  
  
"Sleep if you can, wake me if you get cramps. You should be fine, though," Reyes said encouragingly. "We've got guts of steel. Just give your body a chance to kick into gear."  
  
It wasn't a conventional beating, Jack thought as Reyes laid down on the other side of the bed, but Reyes had definitely punished him.

* * *

As promised, Jack felt fine when he woke up. Considering that it was Gabriel's teeth on his ear that woke him, _better_ than fine.  
  
"About time," Reyes said when Jack opened his eyes. "Come on, get cleaned up before we go out."  
  
"Is this going to be another night of drinking and parading me around like a trophy?" Jack asked, unsure he wanted to go through that again and still thinking longingly of the beating Reyes had promised him once he'd healed.  
  
Reyes leaned over to nip his ear again. "You _are_ my trophy, Jackie. I can't help it if I want the whole world to know that."  
  
Jack rolled onto his back to frown up at Reyes. "You promised that once I'd healed..."  
  
Teeth closed hard on one nipple, the cloth of his shirt doing almost nothing to blunt the sharp pain that made Jack gasp and arch his back. Gabriel's hands were on his biceps, holding him down, and Jack whimpered as the teeth ground just slightly against the sensitive nub of flesh between them.  
  
"You don't decide what I do," Reyes hissed, releasing his prize only to grab the other one, biting hard enough to elicit a choked-back cry of pain. "If I give you the beating you deserve, I won't be able to damage you until heal. _Hardly_ satisfying in the long run, wouldn't you agree?"  
  
The thought of getting what he deserved, combined with Reyes on top of him and the word _satisfying_ , did bad things to Jack's train of thought. "Gabe," he said, almost begging, trying to grind up against Gabriel's body.  
  
Reyes let out a wicked chuckle. "Something you want, Jackie?"  
  
"You."  
  
"You want my dick in your ass, is that it?" Tauntingly, Reyes bucked his hips, grinding against Jack's growing erection. "You want to go out in public, knowing that I was on top of you, feeling like everyone knows the great Jack Morrison is nothing more than a needy little bitch? You want me to kiss you, to make you hard in some bar, on the dance floor, where everyone can see you panting after me like a dog in heat, desperate for me to take you to bed and make you beg for my cock?"  
  
The things Reyes was describing had Jack hard enough to be frantic. "Yes! Please, Gabe!"  
  
Gabriel's lips on his throat, teeth scraping, voice buzzing against his skin. "I love it when you beg, Jackie."  
  
Jack remembered a day, months ago, when Reaper asked him if he would have begged Reyes. _Maybe_ , he'd said. _Probably, if he kicked my ass first_. Turns out the real answer was _yes, because I'm a needy little bitch_ , or maybe _absolutely, because he loves hearing me beg_.  
  
"Please, Gabe." Jack licked his lips. "Please use me. Fuck me. Or just let me suck your cock, please. Let me jerk you off. Or jerk yourself off and cum on me, please, Gabe, anything..."  
  
"Whatever gets my cum on you, hmmm?" Reyes raised his head to gauge the look in Jack's eyes. Whatever he saw must have pleased him, because he lowered his lips to Jack's for a series of frustratingly light, teasing kisses. "I want you on your knees, Jackie. Get your clothes off while I get the lube."  
  
Once Reyes had moved off of him, Jack wasted no time in stripping and assuming a position on all fours. Listening to the sounds of Reyes moving around the room, retrieving and presumably applying the lube, was maddening. Finally the mattress shifted, and one warm hand gripped his hip hard enough that he was sure he'd bruise.  
  
"Gabe..."  
  
The other hand patted his side like a rider might pat a horse's flank. "Ready, Jackie?"  
  
Oh, he was _more_ than ready. "Gabe, please..."  
  
Anticipation made him groan as the head of Gabriel's cock slipped inside, the low moan coming from behind him electric up his spine.  
  
Reyes hissed as he pushed deeper in. "Fuck, Jackie, you're _tight_."  
  
Jack whimpered and shifted, trying to balance on one hand and reach back to stroke himself at the same time, but his biceps didn't want to cooperate and he almost fell, causing Reyes to dig the fingers of both hands painfully into his hips.  
  
"Stop that," Reyes snapped. "I'll take care of you."  
  
Before Jack could figure out what words to answer that with, Reyes was thrusting and Jack braced for the delicious sensation of Gabriel's dick stroking his prostate. What he _wasn't_ expecting was Gabriel's hand on _his_ dick. The sound that burst out of him may as well have been a trigger, because Reyes grunted and doubled his speed, striking the sweet spot again and again, going from stroking Jack's dick to cupping his balls, and within moments both of them were crying out in blissful release. Jack's arms trembled and collapsed, sending him crashing face-first into the mattress with Reyes sprawled contentedly on top of him.  
  
" _Such_ a good bitch," Reyes murmured, laying a lazy kiss somewhere in the middle of Jack's back. "Mmm. Let me change the bandage on your shoulder before we get dressed again."  
  
"Okay," Jack sighed.  
  
He would have let Reyes straight-up stab him, he felt so good. Letting him peel the adhesive-edged sterile pad off his back, make thoughtful noises at the raw wound underneath, and press a new one into place didn't even dent his afterglow. The places on his hips where Gabriel's fingers had been throbbed gently, like a tactile memory of having his hands there. It soothed Jack, reassured him, and Reyes looked quietly pleased to have him so relaxed and obedient.  
  
They rode a taxi to a different part of Dorado, but the night progressed roughly the same as the previous night. Drinks and compliments, possessive arms and biting kisses, locals cheering "Papi Gabriel" being on his honeymoon. There were differences, though. Reyes made sure to keep them both hydrated, ordering weaker drinks and rounds of juice or water, and they started the night with a solid meal of something meaty and wrapped in a tortilla. More often than not, the possessive arm wrapped around Jack ended in fingers digging into his hip, and Jack initiated at least half of the kisses.  
  
"What's with the skull-face bodyguards?" Jack asked in a low voice about halfway through the night. Someone had dared them to dance together during a slow song, so they were pressed close together and swaying in lazy circles, Gabriel's arms tight around Jack and Jack's head on Gabriel's shoulder.  
  
"Members of the Los Muertos gang," Reyes replied quietly. "Sombra set them to look out for us. They got us the ride back last night after you lost the ability to stand without help."  
  
"Don't blame me," Jack protested. "You're the one who _got_ me that drunk."  
  
"And it was funny as hell," Reyes returned unrepentantly. "But I want you to be able to follow through if you decide to make grandiose promises again tonight."  
  
"At least I didn't throw up." Jack paused. "I _didn't_ throw up, did I? I never did all the times I..."  
  
"You didn't throw up, Jack. Something our driver was _very_ happy about."  
  
"Well, at least there's that," he sighed. "I don't want to think about the rumors if I had. Famed Overwatch Head, Thought Deceased, Seen Drunk In Dorado, Puking In Car. Stop it," he hissed as Reyes started laughing.  
  
"Famed Hero Jack Morrison Vomits On Local, Can't Hold His Liquor," Reyes chuckled. "Waitress Claims Morrison Can't Handle Habaneros, Either. Sources Confirm Morrison One Hundred Percent White Boy."  
  
"I never claimed not to be," Jack muttered.  
  
"You're too uptight, Jackie," Reyes purred. "Let's get you another drink."  
  
Blushing and trying to pretend he was furious, Jack let Reyes lead him off the floor.  
  
"It's not fair if it's just me," Jack protested as Reyes ordered and handed him something with a paper umbrella in it. "You need one, too."  
  
"I'm not the one worrying about his reputation on our honeymoon," he countered.  
  
Jack took a long sip, feeling the warm burn pool in his belly. "That's not why. I like seeing you drunk. Not all the way drunk," he hurried on as Reyes frowned. "Just halfway, just enough that you don't give a fuck. You're like a sexy goddamn panther."  
  
The look Reyes was giving Jack was making him feel self-conscious. He downed half his drink as an excuse to avert his eyes.  
  
"When did you see me that drunk?" he asked, curious.  
  
"The night of our anniversary. Remember? I got whiskey...?"  
  
Reyes turned to the bartender and had a short conversation in Spanish, complete with hand gestures. Finally the bartender nodded and poured whiskey into a wide, short glass until Reyes gestured for him to stop.  
  
"You tell me when I'm a panther," he teased, taking a long sip.  
  
They stood there at the bar, Jack nursing his whatever-it-was and Reyes drinking his whiskey, for long enough that an Asian man with a pretty young woman on his arm came up, got drinks, went away, and came up a second time. While he was waiting, he gave them both a disdainful look. Then he tapped Reyes on the shoulder.  
  
"Hey," he said. "Word of advice. It doesn't matter how much you drink, he's still going to be ugly."  
  
Reyes went coldly, utterly still. Slowly, he turned to the man. " _What,_ " he growled, "did you say about my wife?"  
  
Jack took a moment to lament Gabriel achieving 'sexy panther' and immediately getting sidetracked before Jack could kiss him, and also resisted the urge to cover his face. "I'm your bitch, Gabe. Not your wife. I _have_ a dick. You were jerking it just this afternoon."  
  
"Nice to hear you acknowledge that, Jackie, but I was going for the blatant humor angle. Now shut up a minute, I need to hear what this spineless dickweasel has to say about you."  
  
"I said he's ugly," the other man said helpfully.  
  
"YOU SAY THAT AGAIN, MOTHERFUCKER, THAT'S GOING TO BE THE _LAST_ THING YOU SAY!"  
  
Conversations all over the club died and every head turned to see who had just bellowed a death threat at the top of his rage-filled lungs. Even the DJ turned the music down to see what was going on. The Asian man looked moderately alarmed.  
  
"Gabe," Jack said, trying not to sound nervous and desperate, "he's not worth it. Please don't get us arrested on our honeymoon."  
  
"Not going to happen, Jackie." Gabriel's murderous gaze never left the Asian man's face. " _Arrested_ means someone would have to call the police. AND THAT'S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN," he roared, "because that would ruin our honeymoon, and _no one_ wants to see what happens when Papi Gabriel's honeymoon gets ruined!"  
  
Murmurs spread through the crowd, some of them sounding angry. The Asian man not only looked alarmed, but tried to back away, only to run into some stone-faced locals forming the start of a wall hemming him in. He glanced back at Reyes and went pale. Jack glanced at Reyes as well, trying to see what had scared the man, and realized that the hand holding the glass of whiskey in a crushing grip was bleeding black smoke. As he watched, the glass cracked - but instead of shattering, the pieces _melted_ as black smoke licked over them. Jack wrapped both arms around Gabriel and leaned in to nibble his earlobe. He was pretty sure that after tonight, all of Dorado was going to know Jack Morrison was Papi Gabriel's bitch, but if that was the price of preventing a barfight and the intervention of law enforcement, then that was a price Jack was willing to pay.  
  
"God damn you're sexy when you're angry," Jack murmured, lipping at Gabriel's neck. It was true, and he was too tipsy to care who might see that he was getting hard. "Don't waste that on him. Glare at me, give me the beating I deserve." Shamelessly, Jack ground against Gabriel's hip, letting him feel his erection. "Fuck, you're so hot. Let me suck your dick, Gabe. Right here, in front of everyone."  
  
The worst part, the part that would embarrass him when he sobered up, was that he wasn't even really exaggerating.  
  
The sound of a glass set down on the bar carried surprisingly well. With his now-free hand, Reyes beckoned the Asian man over. The stone-faced locals frogmarched him close enough to be grabbed by the front of his expensive-looking shirt and pulled closer.  
  
"Listen up," he growled in a drill sergeant's voice, the words easily audible. "I'm only gonna say this once. Jackie here is _my_ bitch. _No one_ insults my bitch but _me_. Got it?"  
  
"I-it seems I was m-mistaken," the man stuttered, sweating. "Y-your bitch is indeed v-very handsome. Congratulations. P-please allow me to buy you both a drink to celebrate your h-honeymoon."  
  
Gabriel's smile was toothy and smug. "A Blowjob and a Screaming Orgasm," he announced, releasing the man's shirt. Then he turned his head and captured Jack's mouth for a brief kiss. "You know the rule for a Blowjob, right, Jackie?"  
  
Jack's face felt like it was on fire. "No hands," he answered.  
  
The hiss of the bartender adding whipped cream to the shot glass seemed unnaturally loud. Reluctantly, Jack pulled himself away from Gabriel's body and put both hands behind his back.  
  
"Come on, Jackie," Reyes teased, his voice warm and doing horrible things to Jack's ability to concentrate. "I _know_ you can do this."  
  
Carefully, Jack lowered his head, taking the pile of whipped cream into his mouth and feeling with his lips for the glass. Playing to the crowd, he bobbed his head up and down a few times and let out a wanton moan. Then he wrapped his lips around the glass and lifted his head, swallowing as the liquid flowed into his mouth, and ran his tongue around the inside to catch all the whipped cream. He heard scattered cheers as he lowered his head again and gently spit out the shot glass. Then Reyes was spinning him around and kissing him, hard and deep, and the cheers swelled into a roar of approval.  
  
"We're not done yet, Gabe," Jack said breathlessly as they parted. The bartender gently pushed a glass into his groping hand. "Let me give you a Screaming Orgasm."  
  
Someone in the crowd hooted, and more people cheered. Reyes looked like what he really wanted was to have Jack's lips wrapped around his cock, but he slid his arm around Jack and drew him closer. Jack held the glass to his lips and he drank it down in one pull, letting his breath out afterwards out a deep, satisfied groan that had the crowd cheering again.  
  
"Okay," Reyes announced as the cheering died down, "that's it, either we leave _right now_ or the next Screaming Orgasm isn't going to involve a glass."  
  
Jack leaned over as the crowd cheered and laughed. "Can I blow you in the taxi?"  
  
"Fuck, Jackie, don't say things like that or I'm going to whip it out right here."  
  
"You're driving me _wild,_ Gabe."  
  
"Clear the way," Reyes called out, sweeping Jack into his arms bridal-style. "I need to go fuck my bitch _right now_."  
  
More cheering, and the crowd parted like the Red Sea, leaving Reyes a clear path to the door which a broadly-smiling couple helpfully held open for him. Jack clung to Gabriel's neck, resisting the desire to kiss or nibble and endanger the already-precarious balance of his ride. Reyes set him down in the back seat of a taxi, gave the driver the address of their bed-and-breakfast, and then there was nothing but hot kisses and frantic hands until the cab stopped and they had to reluctantly disengage, breathing heavily, and climb out to race for their room.  
  
Jack didn't remember taking his clothes off, or how Reyes got out of his. All that mattered was that he was on his back with Reyes sliding inside him, eyes fluttering closed, and then they were kissing as he started thrusting, and then everything was bliss.


	5. Everybody's looking for something

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's been a nice honeymoon, but Jack can't stop thinking about certain promises.

Jack woke up to breath on the back of his neck, legs tangled with his, and an arm draped over his side.  
  
The realization that Gabriel Reyes was pressed against his back filtered slowly through the haze of drowsiness and the warm glow of memory, soured only slightly by resignation that he'd been publicly declared Papi Gabriel's bitch. Every other aspect of his life had gone up in flames just over a year ago, leaving him with only the unresolved mess between him and Reyes, the only aspect he _hadn't_ been able to control before everything went to hell. Then he'd learned Reyes was Reaper, and that unresolved mess had turned into the most important thing in Jack's world. Between the origins of it and thirty years of tearing himself down on that front, Jack was more than comfortable with Reyes being the one in charge and doling out punishment to Jack. It was a little cringe-worthy that the reversal of authority had been made so blatantly clear to random strangers in a club, but the only thing he really found himself regretting was that for all the possessive displays Reyes had put on, for all of the rage he'd shown, none of it had been directed at _him_.   
  
_As soon as you're healed_ , the bastard had promised in the Watchpoint. But here he was, whole and unharmed with the exception of the mark on his left shoulderblade. He'd been punished, yes. He'd been hurt, but it was impersonal. Incidental. He remembered Reyes trembling with the desire to _damage_ him, but it had been two days and he was still undamaged.   
  
Didn't Reyes _want_ to hurt him? Had Jack been too obedient, was he no longer an adversary to be subdued but a submissive trophy to be paraded around? Did Reyes not respect him, did he not take Jack seriously?  
  
Did he not _care?_  
  
Jack chewed on the problem as Reyes got up and left the bed, listened with lowered eyelids as his footsteps padded to the bathroom and the shower turned on. By the time Reyes came out of the bathroom, Jack was pacing back and forth in front of the bed, anxious fear knotting in his stomach, crawling up his throat like sour bile.   
  
"What got into _you_ , Morrison?"  
  
The snappy retort of 'you' flashed through Jack's mind, but he discarded it. "I thought I was _cruisin' for a bruisin'_ in the Watchpoint," he snarled. "You wanted _so badly_ to _damage_ me. You _promised_ ," he spat.  
  
Gabriel's expression cooled to hard anger. "You don't decide what I do, Morrison."  
  
"Time for me to make good on my other promise, then."  
  
Two steps. Three. Jack threw a punch.  
  
It never landed.  
  
Reyes grabbed his wrist and smiled, cold and sharp and _hungry_.  
  
The first blow caught Jack just under the ribcage, knocking the breath out of him. He crumpled up, folded like a lawn chair, and Reyes rained punches down on the entire length of his back, from shoulders to hips, spine to sides. That didn't make it much easier to breathe, and when the assault ended, Jack rolled with some difficulty onto his back and sucked in half a dozen deep lungfuls of air. He'd almost forgotten that Reyes was in the room. The weight that settled on his hips made Jack's eyes fly open in alarm, and he had a moment of seeing Reyes smile at him, all his teeth bared, before he found his wrists pinned.   
  
Gabriel's mouth was on his chest, sucking in a shallow mouthful of skin. Then he bit down, and Jack couldn't choke back a scream. Reyes made an awkward hitching motion, pulling on one arm without sitting up, and Jack found his mouth full of his own forearm. With Jack's screams muffled by his own flesh, Reyes increased the pressure of his teeth until Jack was sure he was bleeding. A second time Reyes bit down, this one on the opposite side of Jack's chest. When Jack was sure he was bleeding from two places, Reyes moved slightly down and repeated the process until there were six bitemarks on his chest and abdomen, each one pulsing raw agony.   
  
He barely even noticed when Reyes left the room.  
  
A seething, throbbing time later, an arm under his head urged him gently up and fingers pressed two pills past his lips. Then his mouth was full of water and he swallowed, nearly choked, swallowed again and finally drew in a deep, shuddering breath that resulted in about six different spikes of pain.  
  
"I warned you," Reyes murmured tenderly. "You try to kick my ass, it's your ass that's getting kicked."  
  
Jack couldn't string any coherent thoughts together, much less form words, but he smiled.  
  
"Yeah, yeah, you're happy with yourself. I'm going to lift you into bed now, so try not to scream, okay?"  
  
Taking a deep breath to voice agreement with was out of the question. Jack forced his eyes open to meet Gabriel's brown ones and nodded slightly.  
  
Being lifted _did_ hurt, but not much more than the pain he was already in. Reyes laid him down on the bed, pillows piled up behind him so he was in a half-reclined position. Jack could see his chest, see the livid red circles and the fainter red streaks around them. Reyes _had_ drawn blood, after all.  
  
"Do you like it?" Reyes asked, one finger tracing the red ring lowest on the right with a feather-light touch. "I left your arms and legs alone so I still have someplace to work because as fun as it is to parade you around and see you blush, I _really_ like seeing you crumpled up in pain."  
  
Jack took a deeper breath than the shallow sips he'd been taking. "I deserve it," he said shakily.   
  
"Yes, you do," Reyes murmured, that cold, hungry expression back on his face. "I thought maybe I could give you a little leniency, since it _is_ our honeymoon, but apparently you're a naughty little bitch and I need to keep you on a tighter leash."   
  
Laughing was painful. Jack groped for Gabriel's hand and squeezed, trying to convey _yes_ between that and his smile.  
  
Reyes pressed his lips lightly to Jack's temple. "I'm going to go get breakfast," he said in a gentle voice. "You stay here, and when I'm done I'll come back with breakfast for you. Got it?"  
  
Weakly, Jack nodded.

* * *

Gentle lips on his lips woke him, and then the scents of coffee and bacon brought him to full awareness. Gabriel's lips retreated, and Jack opened his eyes.   
  
"I'm not asking why they had a tray for eating in bed," Reyes said cheerfully, settling it into place over Jack's lap. "Sombra's going to be coming by later with lunch, since you're in no shape to go out, so we'll need to get some clothes on you before then. Painkillers kick in okay?"  
  
"Yeah," Jack said quietly. "Thanks, Gabriel."  
  
"Shut up and eat, Jack," he replied, but he was smiling.  
  
Jack picked up the fork and smiled back.  
  
Once breakfast had been successfully transferred from the plate to Jack's stomach, Reyes left with the dishes and returned to lounge on the other side of the bed with his pad, legs stretched out. Jack's enhanced healing and full belly were making him sleepy again, and he spent what felt like a lot of time staring at those legs. He wanted to use Gabriel's thigh like a pillow, but the idea of changing position that drastically made him wince, and would Reyes even allow it?  
  
He tried to nap, but sitting mostly-upright just wasn't doing it for him. Fuck it, he was going to nap on Gabriel's thigh or get his ass handed to him again for trying.   
  
Reyes didn't react as Jack slowly leaned over, although he was sure Reyes was aware of what he was doing. Slowly, what felt like inch by inch, he shifted until he could lay his head on Gabriel's thigh. Jack held his breath, waiting for a reaction. After several seconds, the muscles under his head tensed. He flinched, anticipating a fist against his skull or in his hair, but nothing happened and the muscles relaxed again.   
  
Apparently, Reyes was going to allow it.  
  
Of course, the adrenaline from thinking Reyes was going to physically object meant Jack was no longer sleepy. He waited a few minutes, but restfulness eluded him.  
  
"It wasn't just the anniversary," Jack said quietly.  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"That I saw you drunk like that."   
  
A faint sound that could have been the pad being set down. Then Reyes said, "Go on."   
  
It wasn't a cold voice, it wasn't angry, but it was...wary. Jack took a deeper breath.   
  
"There was one evening...must have been three, maybe four years ago. A Friday. I was staying late working on...I don't even remember what it was anymore," Jack sighed. "You'd mentioned staying late as well, something you wanted to do."  
  
The muscles of Gabriel's thigh tensed. Jack tensed with them.  
  
"Around nine-thirty, maybe ten, I left my office to get a drink. Mostly as an excuse to stretch my legs and get my blood moving again. You were walking down the hallway towards me, and you were drunk." Even though Reyes couldn't see them, Jack squeezed his eyes shut. "I was angry."  
  
"You gave me the third degree for not taking my responsibilities seriously," Reyes said, a hard edge in his voice.   
  
"I thought whatever you'd stayed late to do, you were doing it drunk. Or that you stayed late and got drunk purely to mock me. But when I saw you standing there, relaxed and collected and confident and...and...you looked so _smug_ , like the world would just hand you anything you wanted, and it was _unfairly_ sexy. I wanted _so badly_ to kiss that look off your face, so I gave you a dressing-down instead."  
  
Reyes laid one hand gently on Jack's head. Then, slowly, he tightened that hand into a fist until Jack bit back a whimper at the sharp tug on his hair.   
  
"Do you have _any_ idea," Reyes growled, "what it was that I'd stayed late to _do?"_  
  
Jack licked his lips, nervous at the apparent anger his story had aroused. "No."  
  
" _You,_ " Reyes spat, fist jerking Jack's head up. "I was on my way to your office to see if I could pin you to a wall. To see if your reaction to being kissed would be to kiss back, or to clock me."  
  
Neither of them had to point out that things between them had gone from _strained_ to _bad_ directly after that; they were both painfully aware that it had been a turning point. But now it was sinking in that it could have been a _different_ kind of turning point, except Jack had fucked up.  
  
Reyes let go violently, an aborted motion like at the last second, he'd reconsidered slamming Jack's face into his leg.   
  
"I'm sorry, Gabe," Jack whispered. Guilt and anguish knotted in his throat, making him want to cry.   
  
"Damn _straight_ you're sorry," he snarled back. "You're the sorriest fuck I've ever seen. I should kick your ass again for that."  
  
Jack didn't say anything; he wasn't sure he could get anything out past the knot in his throat. After a long minute, Reyes sighed.  
  
"This is why Ana was always on us to fucking _talk_. I should have fucking kissed you anyway, but I was so pissed that if I put my hands on you, I probably would have slammed you into the floor and started punching."  
  
"You should have done it, Gabe."  
  
Reyes sighed again. "I know I should have, Jackie. You needed to have your head knocked out of your ass." Gently, he pressed his hand against the mark on Jack's shoulder. "Live and learn. You're my bitch now, and I'm going to make sure you get every beating you deserve."  
  
The pain radiating from Jack's shoulder soothed him, an intangible reminder of the promise that he'd spend the next three decades making up for his mistakes. He'd fucked up, but things weren't just festering anymore. He was going to make it right. Slowly, he relaxed against Gabriel's leg again. "I'm glad," he said quietly.  
  
"You're pathetic, Jackie." Despite the words, Gabriel's tone warm warm.  
  
Jack closed his eyes, feeling sleep tug at him. "I know."

* * *

Although his arms and legs were fine and the painkillers helped, Jack's back had congealed into a solid knot of bruised and protesting muscles and Reyes had to help him both shower and dress. Going down the stairs was slow torture, and he felt like the old man Reyes sometimes called him. The bastard at least took pity on him and pulled a chair out from the dining room table, helped him sit, and pushed him in again. Across the table, Sombra watched the whole process, amusement on her features. Her head rested on one hand, long nails tapping idly against her cheek.   
  
"I think you broke him, Papi," she teased as Reyes sorted through the bag of food in the middle of the table.  
  
He snorted. "Perils of being married to me. Jack, how was drinking that coffee this morning? Want a straw for your water?"  
  
"That would be great," Jack answered, accepting a huge burrito Reyes had partially unwrapped for him.   
  
Reyes kissed him lightly on the temple. "Alright. I'll be right back."  
  
"So I hear you and Papi Gabriel had _fun_ last night," Sombra said as he started eating.  
  
Jack finished chewing his bite and swallowed. "What, exactly, did you hear?"  
  
"The people I had watching you gave me a pretty detailed report," she said, grinning, "but the people who went to the tabloids apparently only got part of the story."  
  
With a dramatic flourish, she opened a holoscreen using nothing more than her hands. It was the front page of what Jack assumed was a local tabloid. The only part of the headline that made sense to him was 'Papi Gabriel', but the picture splashed across the page didn't need any explanation: it was Reyes carrying him bridal-style with the crowd cheering behind them.   
  
"I think it might be safer for the two of you to stay out of sight until we get you on the plane," she said as Reyes came back into the dining room and set a glass of water - with a straw - in front of Jack.  
  
"Got a timeframe on that yet?" Reyes asked, sitting next to Jack and pulling a stack of wrapped tacos closer to himself.  
  
Sombra slid two shiny ID cards across the table for inspection. "They're not live in all the systems yet," she warned as they passed the cards back. "I'll handle that tonight and book your flight for tomorrow - _if_ you have information that makes it worth my while."  
  
Reyes patted Jack gently on the shoulder. "I'll be right back. Don't eat my tacos."  
  
Jack didn't dignify that with an answer. The burrito was big enough to more than satisfy him without risking the wrath of his back trying to not spill lettuce and fragments of taco shell everywhere. Sombra followed Gabriel's progress through the wall and ceiling as he pounded up the stairs, down the hall, and back.   
  
"We didn't exactly label them," he said as he laid the case on the table and opened it. "Project information stolen from Talon's servers before we blew them up. You're welcome to however much of it you want."  
  
Sombra's eyes lit up. "Oh, Papi, it's like all my birthday and Christmas presents at once," she cooed, caressing the thumb drives. A pinkish shimmer bled from the fingertips to coat the drives, while the other hand gestured small holoscreens open and closed, the contents of the drives flickering on the glowing squares. "This is too much payment," she announced. "What else can this little shadow do for Papi Gabriel and his husband?"  
  
Reyes crumpled an empty wrapper into a ball and reached for another taco. "I had no part in taking down Overwatch," he growled. "There were moles in Blackwatch. Traitors. They set me up and tried to kill me. Almost succeeded, too. Clear my name."  
  
The look Sombra gave him could have cut glass. "Like I wasn't going to do that _anyway?"_   
  
Jack almost choked on his burrito at Gabriel's stunned expression, which turned to concern as the resulting coughing fit made him bite back sounds of pain.   
  
"Hold off on the rest of that," he said, pulling the uneaten half of Jack's monster burrito away. "You can finish it after I've rubbed some pain-relief cream into your back."  
  
"Thanks," Jack sighed, sipping water and trying to convince his muscles to relax.   
  
"You may have planned to do it anyway," Reyes says, turning back to Sombra, "but charity work doesn't feed any mouths. Take the payment, help us get to Talon bases and stay hidden between strikes, and when we're publicly alive again, come to the wedding. What do you think, Jack," he asked with a grin. "Would she make a good flower girl?"  
  
"I didn't know we were going the religious route," Jack retorted. "You always talked like you'd burst into flames if you ever set foot in a church. If you want bridesmaids, though..."  
  
"Keep dreaming, Jackie," Reyes shot back. " _You'll_ be the one with bridesmaids. Do you want to be one of Jack's bridesmaids?" he asked a laughing Sombra. "I'll make sure he picks bridesmaid dresses that actually look good."  
  
"I'll pass, Papi," she chuckled. "After all, you gonna need some family to sit in the front row, right?"  
  
"Good point. So it's settled, then?"  
  
Sombra closed the case and locked it. "Si. I'll be back around seven with dinner, and we can plan your flights and getting you to the airport."   
  
"Thank you, Sombra," Jack said.  
  
She grinned at him. "You're welcome, Tio Jack."  
  
As she left, Reyes chuckled. "I like her."

* * *

After an application of pain-relief cream and the other half of his monster burrito, Jack felt good enough to be restless. They hadn't really unpacked, with the exception of some clothes and toiletries, so packing for their flight tomorrow took next to no time. Certainly not enough to burn off Jack's restless energy, but Reyes wasn't interested in leaving the room.  
  
"Sombra said it would be safer for us to stay out of sight," he said evenly, not looking up from his pad.   
  
"So you wear sunglasses and a hat and I don't cover my scar," Jack argued. "Come on, Gabriel. It's our honeymoon and we're leaving tomorrow. When are we going to get another chance to just walk around doing tourist things?"  
  
Reyes ignored him. Jack sighed, feeling exceptionally needy. He wanted sunlight and fresh air, he wanted to pretend they were a normal couple, not a pair of internationally-known dead men. He wanted...  
  
"I want churros," he announced.  
  
_Now_ he had Gabriel's attention. Reyes lowered the pad and gave him a long, measuring look. "You've never had street corn," he said in a vaguely-threatening way. "We need to rectify this. Get your shoes, Jack."  
  
Grinning, Jack got his shoes.   
  
The afternoon passed quietly, pleasantly, deliciously. They walked around, eating churros and street corn and plantains with jam and something Reyes insisted _wasn't_ a sno-cone despite that being pretty much exactly what it was. As much as he tried to hide it, Jack knew that Reyes was thoroughly enjoying himself. He bought a dizzying array of foods that he didn't bother fully describing past insisting Jack 'had to try it' and then either devoured it gleefully if Jack didn't like it, or stole 'his share' if Jack did. He also kept casually draping his arm around Jack's shoulders, pressing against the mark in silent reassurance that despite the smiles and light, teasing kisses, Jack was still his bitch and he'd make sure Jack paid for every dumb thing he'd ever done.   
  
They wandered and ate until Jack's back remembered the beating it had gotten just that morning, and then Reyes frowned sternly at Jack and flagged down a taxi. Jack didn't protest being helped into or out of the taxi, nor having painkillers and a glass of water shoved at him, and it took only a few minutes of laying on his back in bed before he was out cold.

* * *

Two points of red-hot pain woke Jack, who jolted upright and discovered Reyes grinning at him. Bastard had pinched two of the bitemarks he'd left on Jack's chest.  
  
"Sombra's here with dinner," Reyes said casually.   
  
Jack groaned. "I'm still full from this afternoon."  
  
"So am I. It's in the fridge, we'll heat it up later. But we still need to confer on our travel plans."  
  
He had a point. Reluctantly, Jack let Reyes help him out of bed and followed him downstairs.   
  
"Papi keeping you busy, Tio Jack?" Sombra asked brightly as they walked into the living room.  
  
Reyes sat on a couch; Jack sat next to him and was rewarded with an arm around his shoulders. "Something like that," he answered. "So what's the plan?"  
  
"I booked you for the nine-forty flight to New York tomorrow morning," she announced, passing over a pair of wallets. "First class and bypassing the security line. I also got you the highest level membership with the airline's 'kiss your ass' club. Gabriel Guerrero is the CEO of one of my shell companies, one involved in the import-export business. Lots of flying, lots of travel, lots of credit. Born and raised in San Francisco, has a California driver's license with a few speeding tickets several years back. His husband Jack was born to military parents and traveled all over before going into the military himself. Went into private security, after that, driver's license issued by Washington DC. Two accidents, both over a decade ago, one at-fault rear-ending and the other was getting run off the road by some asshole in a pickup truck. Jack got hired by the company four years back; you were married in an Overwatch-themed wedding chapel in Las Vegas last week."  
  
Reyes burst out laughing. Jack opened one of the wallets, found himself staring at Gabriel's face on holographic plastic, and handed it to him. The other wallet had all of his information: the driver's license, an old military ID, a security card for the shell company, boarding pass, two credit cards (one of them a corporate card, the other a debit card with the name of a national bank emblazoned on it), and a handful of bills. Beside him, Reyes grunted in satisfaction at the contents of his wallet.  
  
"You mentioned a car," Reyes said.  
  
Sombra nodded. "There's a slip in your wallet with an address. Take a taxi there. It's a mid-size hatchback, black, registered in your name. Plate number is on the slip, too. The doors will be unlocked with the keys in the glove box. Very generous insurance policy, all the bells and whistles on the car, and I'll be able to send coordinates straight to it."  
  
"This is more...in-depth than I was expecting," Reyes said slowly. He didn't _say_ 'what's the catch', but Jack heard it anyway.  
  
"You think I'm _not_ going to go all out for my childhood hero? You cracked Talon open like an egg," Sombra replied evenly. "There was a lot of money squirreled away in little digital hiding places. What I spent buying you new lives was only a _fraction_ of what I found. You did me a huge favor without knowing you were doing it, so I'm returning that favor. You figure out where you want to live once Talon is in flames, you let me know and I will _find_ you a place." She almost made it sound like a threat.  
  
A home. Not just a home, a home _with Reyes_. The thought made his breath catch, and he kept his eyes on the wallet he was holding, afraid of what he might see on Gabriel's face. He'd lived places, sure, but he hadn't had a _home_ since he left for the military. The thought of living with Reyes in a place that was _theirs_ was almost unbearably attractive after the year of living out of motel rooms. Although speaking of motel rooms...  
  
"So how's the assault on Talon going to go from here, and where are we staying between missions? Now that we're respectable people," Jack finished.   
  
"I'll handle it," Sombra said firmly. "Both picking targets and making your travel arrangements. Your husband there is a member of the rewards programs for both a rental car company and a major hotel chain. It may not be as easy to get to the Talon locations as it was in Europe, but I'm going to make sure your downtime is as comfortable as possible."   
  
Reyes let the silence sit for a bit before he grinned. "Look at that, Jack, we're actually reaping the rewards of all our hard work. You're a good girl, _chica_. You got an identity past 'Sombra'?"  
  
"Not anymore," she said slowly.  
  
For a heartbeat, Reyes looked distraught. Then he leaned back coolly. "Too bad. I'm pretty sure I could talk Jack into adopting once we've got our actual lives back."  
  
Just as coolly, as if she hadn't looked for just a second like she was being offered her heart's desire, Sombra said, "I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Be ready for seven tomorrow, there will be a taxi to take you to the airport. You'll be in the air almost four hours and they'll serve lunch on the flight if you're brave enough to eat it."  
  
"We're enhanced soldiers," Jack said dryly. "We've eaten worse."  
  
Reyes snorted. "Yeah. I remember the time you tried to make me eat squirrel."  
  
"It was _rabbit_ , Gabriel, and it was _perfectly fine_. Squirrel was a different time, and I did _not_ try to make you eat it. We only had one, and I wasn't about to share."  
  
"That doesn't explain the snake stew."  
  
" _You_ killed the snake, I just did something useful with it! It's not _my_ fault you're a city boy," Jack teased.  
  
"We _had_ perfectly good rations, Jack."  
  
Sombra laughed. "Okay, I'll leave you two before this gets R-rated. I'll be in touch once you pick up your car. Have a good trip!"  
  
"Hold it, _chica_." Reyes gestured her back as she stood to leave. "If this is goodbye, I get a hug."  
  
Jack grinned at the look of flustered pleasure on her face. "I get one, too."  
  
They both embraced the girl - it was so hard to remember she was omnic - before letting her flee the bed-and-breakfast.   
  
"I'm up for adopting her," Jack said quietly once the door had shut behind her.  
  
"That's assuming she has an identity to adopt," Reyes said with a finality Jack didn't want to question. "Can you face food yet?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Me either. Let's set clothes out for tomorrow and get the rest of our luggage sorted out. We'll want to get to bed early, since we'll be getting up early."  
  
The phrase _getting up early_ was doing bad things to Jack's train of thought. "Uh...how early exactly?"  
  
"Taxi at seven, Sombra said, right? Figure half an hour for breakfast, half an hour for getting showered and dressed..." Reyes trailed off, staring at Jack's expression. A slow smile spread across his face. "...and half an hour for you to put me in a good mood for the trip."  
  
Jack's face felt like it was on fire. "Would you object to me doing a little...practicing...after we pack?"  
  
Reyes prowled around Jack before sliding his arms around him from behind. Both hands pressed against bitemarks and his lips pressed against the Reaper's kiss, making Jack gasp.  
  
"Jackie," he purred, "when have you _ever_ known me to _object_ to someone getting me off?"  
  
"Never," he whispered, pulse pounding with the thrill of not being rebuffed.   
  
The arms retreated. "Then get your ass upstairs and on the bed so I can fuck it."  
  
Jack took the stairs two at a time.  
  
By the time Reyes sauntered into the room, Jack had discovered that the bitemarks on his check and abdomen did not allow him to lie comfortably on his stomach. His back didn't object to him being on it, but he wasn't sure Reyes would tolerate the intimacy of missionary and even if he did, Jack wanted reacharound more than he wanted kisses. So he waited, naked, on all fours.  
  
" _Good,_ Jackie," Reyes said in a tone both approving and anticipatory.   
  
Jack bit his lip to hold in the sound of need Gabriel's voice elicited. The sounds of clothing falling to the floor were maddening, the wet sounds of lube being applied even more so, and when Reyes put one hand on his hip, a whimper slipped out.  
  
"Do you want this?" Reyes taunted, sliding the head of his penis slowly between Jack's cheeks.  
  
"Yessss..." The word escaped as a a begging sort of hiss. Achingly slow, Reyes pushed deeper until he slid inside with a gentle _pop_.   
  
"God _damn_ Jackie, I keep thinking you'll loosen up but you _don't._ "  
  
"Benefit of being enhanced." Jack laughed breathily. "I'd love to see their faces if anyone reported that." Gabriel's hand tightened on his hips, fingertips digging in and making him gasp. "Gabe, please!"  
  
"That's it, Jackie. Tell me how much you want this. You want my dick in your ass."  
  
Jack tried to form words, but Reyes started thrusting and all that came out was a stream of _please, please, please_ while Reyes made little, grunting sounds of pleasure. Then one hand slid down around Jack's hip to wrap around around his penis, and he started thrusting into Gabe's fist.   
  
"Please, Gabe," he panted. "Please..."  
  
"You like that, Jackie?" Reyes sounded close to the edge. "You like getting fucked, you want me to cum in your ass?"  
  
"Yes," Jack moaned. "Oh god, yes, please Gabe!"  
  
The hand on his hip tightened, pulling Jack back and holding him still while Reyes stroked erratically, a hoarse sound and hot pulse indicating that he was jerking Jack off while in the grip of his own climax, and Jack followed him over that cliff.   
  
The most delicious part about getting fucked, Jack thought lazily, was having Gabe sprawled on him in boneless contentment for the too-brief period of afterglow. All too soon, Reyes stirred and removed himself from the bed.  
  
"Sombra brought hair dye for you," he said casually, like they hadn't just had sex. "It's in the bathroom. You're going to be a blond again. You get started on that, and I'll lay out clothes for tomorrow."  
  
Jack sighed and dragged himself upright. "Okay. Thanks."  
  
Reyes didn't respond, already fishing through their bags, still naked.   
  
The dye was, indeed, in the bathroom. Jack read the directions and then argued the stupid disposable gloves onto his hands and prepared to be bored for the next half hour while the chemicals took effect.

* * *

The evening seemed to flow past. Put the chemicals in. Wash the chemicals out. Stare at his reflection, the dichotomy of the scar he never had when his hair was that color, and the color his hair hadn't been for years. Cold food, still delicious, eating until his belly groaned because Reyes was staring at him with an expression that spoke of wanting to do _things_ to him, but waiting impatiently for the last injuries to heal first. Settling stiffly into bed, being tucked gently in, and then the disappointment of Reyes dissolving into smoke on the other side of the mattress.   
  
Tomorrow, their unofficial honeymoon would end and they would begin their new lives with new identities, harrying Talon, driving them out of the United States. Tomorrow, they would return to the country of their birth as a married couple.   
  
Married...  
  
Jack slept.

* * *

"Jackie..."  
  
In his sleep, Jack smiled. He knew he was dreaming because he was in a tent, and Reyes was there with him. They were on vacation, camping in the woods, and he had been trying to teach Reyes how to fish but they wound up making out on the bank of the stream instead. Now Reyes was unzipping his sleeping bag, slowly, like that wouldn't wake Jack. He smiled again, pretending to still be asleep as warm fingers tugged at his underwear, as warm lips tugged at his dick, teasing until he stood at attention. Then there was warmth, and wetness, and the unmistakable slide of tongue as Reyes took Jack into his mouth and started sucking. Jack tried to keep still and quiet, but a small sound slipped out and the woods faded away, leaving him in bed with Reyes...  
  
Jack groaned, hands clutching the sheets. Reyes was sucking his cock.   
  
"Gabe..." The word was hardly more than an exhalation, desperate and pleading all at the same time.   
  
Reyes hummed. The sensation short-circuited Jack, and afterglow nearly sent him back to sleep. Angry pain on his chest jerked him back awake to Reyes pinching a bitemark and looking smug as fuck.  
  
"Rise and shine, Jackie," he announced. Bastard. "Do you want an appetizer for your breakfast, or a chaser?"  
  
"That hurt, you dick," Jack grumbled, rubbing the throbbing mark gingerly.   
  
Reyes actually _tsk-tsked_ at him. "That's not how you get me in a good mood for our trip, Jackie."  
  
Their trip.  
  
_Married_.  
  
"What endearments do you want me to use?" Jack blurted. "I mean...Jack and Gabriel Guerrero are married..."  
  
Reyes flopped onto the bed beside Jack, arms crossed behind his head, and stared contemplatively at the ceiling. He wasn't wearing anything, Jack noticed. Slowly, since Reyes seemed deep in thought, he rolled over and laid his head on the other man's chest, his arm draped over Gabriel's abdomen and one leg suggestively caressing Gabriel's thigh.  
  
"I'm going to call you _honey-bun_ , or _sweet cheeks,_ or just _honey_ or _sweetie_ ," Reyes announced. One arm came down to hold Jack closer and press against the mark on his shoulderblade. "You can call me _babe_ , or _stud_ , but I'll also accept _handsome_ or _big daddy_. If you think of anything you really want to call me, run it past me in private so I don't blow our cover by beating the shit out of you in public."  
  
"You got it, babe," Jack said. Then he tensed, waiting for Reyes to object.  
  
The hand on Jack's shoulder pressed a little harder, and he chuckled. " _Good_ bitch," he murmured. "Now then, honey-bun, while we're both in bed..."  
  
Jack's pulse jumped. Slowly, he reached for Gabriel's member and stroked until it was fully erect, not wanting to displace the arm around his shoulders. When it did move, releasing him, he crawled down the bed until he could take a position between Gabriel's legs. He started by licking up the underside, from balls to head, and then swirling around before taking the head into his mouth, heartened by the hiss of Gabriel's indrawn breath. Gently, gently, he sucked in a steady rhythm until he heard Reyes groan, and then he switched to the frenetic bobbing and sucking that had gotten good reactions in the past, going deeper and deeper until Reyes sounded almost like he was in pain and his hands clawed at the covers. Jack held his breath and dove, Reyes pulsing against his tongue, and swallowed as he slowly pulled his head back up.  
  
"Hit the shower first, Jackie," Reyes groaned in satisfaction. "You deserve it. _Fuck_ , you're a good bitch."  
  
"Thanks, Gabe," Jack said softly, laying a kiss on Gabriel's thigh before standing up.   
  
With the sounds Reyes had been making, he was going to need a few minutes and a tissue.

* * *

Following Reyes through the Dorado airport made Jack grateful that they'd splurged on _good_ wheeled suitcases before they left Europe. The pulse rifle was in the bigger suitcase (which they'd checked), wrapped in both their blankets, underneath the assorted supplies and equipment they'd taken with them. The unsold valuables, their clothes and toiletries, and the bundles of money were in two smaller suitcases and a sturdy backpack that also held their pillows. ("I don't trust hotel beds," Reyes had said, and Jack couldn't argue with him.) Reyes had their boarding passes in one hand and the handle of a suitcase in the other, while Jack trailed behind with the other suitcase and the backpack. His nerves screamed at him, ready to react if anyone recognized either of them, but the other travelers were all too wrapped up in their own business. True to her word, the passes let them completely skip the security line just like Sombra had promised. The uniformed woman working the pre-check security line looked at their passes, looked at their IDs, and Jack waited in quiet fear to be identified as the dead Strike-Commander Morrison, but she just smiled.   
  
"Mr. and Mr. Guerrero," she said, handing their passes and cards back, "have a fantastic flight!" Smiling, she waved them through.   
  
"Relax, sweetie," Reyes murmured with a hand on Jack's shoulder, pressing against the mark. "Flying makes him nervous," he said to the woman as he ushered Jack past.   
  
Jack wanted to grumble, but the pain in his shoulder reassured him. Reyes _cared_. He'd spent thirty years in charge, he could leave that responsibility to Reyes again, let _him_ worry about what would happen if someone questioned their resemblance to the leaders of Overwatch.   
  
"D'you want a souvenir?" Reyes asked as they strolled down the concourse towards their gate.   
  
"I suppose we should," Jack answered. "We sort of forgot about that."  
  
Reyes smirked. "We were busy."  
  
Blushing, Jack let him steer them to a shop with handmade kitsch. They came out with a fist-sized skull fancifully painted in bright colors, a tiny, beaded sombrero, and a pair of decorative painted tiles with their names worked into the scene. Reyes actually looked pleased with their purchases, admiring the intricate skull before wrapping it back up so Jack could stick it in his backpack, between the pillows.   
  
At the gate, Jack hung back and let Reyes check them in.   
  
"You're all set, Mr. Guerrero," the woman behind the desk chirped. "Seats two A and two B, window and aisle. We'll be pre-boarding in about twenty minutes. I hope you and Mr. Guerrero had a pleasant stay here in Dorado."  
  
"We did," Reyes said, smiling. "It was our honeymoon."  
  
"Congratulations!" she gushed. "I'm so happy for you! I hope your flight back is _fantastic_."  
  
"I'm sure it will be," Reyes assured her.  
  
"Thank you," Jack murmured, blushing, as Reyes led him over to the seats closest to the boarding gate.   
  
When it came time to board, Reyes was the first one on and left Jack with the task of stowing their suitcases while he investigated the comforts the plane had to offer, something Jack joined him in as soon as their things were stowed. In-flight entertainment with complimentary headphones caught his attention first, followed by a pillow, blanket, and a more comfortable seat than he'd experienced in the last year. Hell, Jack was pretty sure it was more comfortable than anyplace he'd planted his ass in the last _decade_. He didn't mind that Reyes had claimed the window seat; flying first class sure as hell beat driving around in a beat-up coupe and being anonymous on a commercial flight was still more appealing than the stress of being Strike-Commander Morrison, regardless of the perks that had come with it.   
  
Reyes pretended to be asleep through boarding and take-off, which Jack was moderately grateful for because they did _not_ have a good track record of keeping things chaste in public and he had no desire to spend half of the flight debating the merits of rubbing one out in the cramped lavatory. So he browsed the music channels, skimmed the headlines on the news channel, and accepted a glass of ice water when the beverage service came by. Reyes 'woke up' at eleven when the flight attendant came around to offer complimentary beer, wine, or liquor. Jack sampled a local beer; Reyes went straight for the tequila. For the next hour they browsed the music and video channels available, accepting drinks every time they were offered. Then the flight attendant announced meal service.  
  
"What are my choices?" Reyes asked imperiously. He wasn't at 'sexy panther' yet, thankfully, but he was certainly enjoying being a VIP.  
  
"There's a menu, babe," Jack said gently, pulling it out and holding it where Reyes could see.   
  
"Hmph." Reyes wasn't impressed. "Shrimp and sweet potato, or beet salad? I'm not eating salad."  
  
"I'll have the beet salad for my starter," Jack told the flight attendant. "And the seared chicken."  
  
"Peas and smashed cauliflower?" Reyes muttered. "Nope. Eggplant parmesan, nope. Give me the braised beef with mushrooms, mashed potatoes, and gravy."  
  
"Excellent choice, sir. And for your bread selection?"  
  
Reyes closed his eyes. "Pick something for me, honey-bun. You know what I like."  
  
Blushing, Jack picked bread for them both and indicated that yes, they would both like the chocolate torte being offered for dessert. Although Reyes appeared to be asleep, his hand crept across the console between them and latched onto Jack's wrist. _You belong to me,_ his fingers said as they dug painfully into the underside of Jack's arm. _Don't forget that._  
  
When their starters were placed in front of them, Jack bent to kiss the back of Gabriel's hand.   
  
"Food's here, babe," he said quietly. "Might want to let go of my hand so you can eat."  
  
"Not if you feed me, honey-bun," Reyes countered, opening his eyes to smirk at Jack.  
  
Jack was sure his ears were turning red, but the thought of performing such an intimate act in...well, he supposed a plane wasn't exactly _public_ , but it was still demonstrating that he was _not_ in charge where it could be overseen and mistaken for something more innocent, and he liked that. A _lot_.  
  
Leaning over, he picked up Gabriel's fork and speared a shrimp. The bastard was watching him, eyes half-lidded, one finger stroking the underside of his wrist in a way that communicated _good bitch_. He commanded, his bitch obeyed, and he was thoroughly enjoying that balance of power. His mouth opened as Jack brought the shrimp to his lips, and watching him pluck it off the fork just made Jack think of other things those lips could do. _Especially_ as Gabriel's eyes slid shut and he hummed in culinary appreciation.   
  
"Is it that good?" Jack asked in a low, husky voice.  
  
Reyes swallowed and opened his eyes to grin. "Am I making you hungry?"  
  
A variety of flirty comments went through Jack's mind, but all that came out was a strangled, "Very."  
  
"Luckily for you," he murmured, releasing Jack's wrist to grab the fork out of his hand, "this actually smells decent and I'm fucking hungry. Eat your beet salad, honey."  
  
Jack watched as Reyes stabbed a bite of sweet potato and ate it with undue relish, then tore his eyes away and forced himself to focus on his salad. It looked delicious - he could see bits of mandarin orange, some kind of nut, and he was pretty sure that was goat cheese. He didn't taste any of it, all his attention on the soft 'mmm' Reyes uttered as another shrimp slipped past his lips.  
  
If he were equally vocal in his enjoyment, he wondered, would Reyes be just as enthralled? Then he thought about the console between them and the logistical difficulty of satisfying any hunger he managed to awaken in his 'husband' and decided discretion was the better part of not being arrested for public indecency once the plane landed.   
  
"Good starter," Reyes said cheerfully as he passed his plate over to Jack for easier collection. "How was your salad, sweetie?"  
  
Jack kept his gaze fixed on the empty dishes. "I have no idea."  
  
Reyes laid one hand possessively on Jack's, forefinger stroking the back of his knuckles. Jack's world narrowed to that point of contact, the wordless reassurance (and possibly apology) being communicated in the heat of Gabriel's skin against his skin. Neither of them said anything until their entrees and desserts were placed in front of them and the flight attendant asked if they'd like another drink. Once the attendant had moved on, Reyes released Jack's hand and busied himself with buttering his roll.  
  
The seared chicken came with some sort of lemon sauce, and it was good enough that Jack was three bites in before he stopped to try the vegetables that had come with it.  
  
"Peas, huh?" Reyes gave him a skeptical look. "You actually _like_ those?"  
  
"You don't have to eat them, babe," Jack retorted loftily. "How's your beef?"  
  
"You tell me, honey-buns. I'm not sure I trust this gravy."  
  
Jack put his silverware down and picked up Gabriel's, cutting a chunk of beef into bite-sized pieces and scooping up a taste of mashed potatoes before spearing one. The gravy was a bit bland, but the potatoes tasted real enough and the beef was nicely seasoned.   
  
"Not as good as your meat," he declared, "but still more than edible."   
  
To prove the point, he loaded the fork with potato and beef a second time and brought it to Gabriel's mouth. It didn't open, and he got a hard, suspicious look from Reyes.  
  
"If you don't eat it, I will."  
  
Reluctantly, Gabriel's lips parted and he allowed Jack to feed him. Still, he practically glared at Jack as he chewed and swallowed.  
  
"It's alright," he conceded. "Give me the fork and eat your peas."  
  
As Jack scooped up a forkful of smashed cauliflower with lemon sauce, he wondered if Gabriel's reluctance was an act to forestall the sort of intimacy they couldn't afford to indulge in because of where it would lead. Was Reyes sulking because he couldn't wind Jack up? Would it be worth the frustration to know that Reyes was frustrated, too?  
  
If Jack took the initiative and wound _Reyes_ up, what would his punishment be once they were someplace private?  
  
The thought took hold of Jack and wouldn't let go, and he found himself contemplating his slice of chocolate torte - that had all _kinds_ of delicious possibilities. As he ate, he considered it from every angle. He'd have to time things so that he'd be done with his entree at about the same time as Reyes was. Take the first bite himself, offer Reyes the second. He needed a good line - almost as sweet as you? Almost as sweet as your kisses. Too bad you can't eat this off me. I'd rather have you in my mouth, but this is a close second.  
  
On second thought, maybe he should just offer it wordlessly.   
  
As they finished their entrees, Reyes leaned over and put his dish on top of Jack's, then brought his mouth close to Jack's ear.  
  
"I won't get a chance to do anything to you for another couple of hours," he said in a low voice, almost purring. "If you do _anything_ to make me need to jerk it in the lav, you're going to bed unsatisfied. Behave, and you'll go to bed _very_ satisfied." Lips tugged on Jack's earlobe. "Which is it going to be, Jackie?"  
  
Fucking bastard. He had Jack over a barrel, and he knew it.   
  
"Behave," Jack whispered.   
  
A quick nip was his reward, and Reyes sat back in his seat like nothing had happened, completely ignoring Jack in favor of his chocolate torte. After a minute, Jack reached for his slice and did the same.  
  
The rest of the flight passed quietly.


	6. Just as I can be so cruel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Getting adjusted to their new life in the States involves finding a balance in other parts of their life together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I meant to post this two months ago, I'm sorry. I'm also still not sure where I'm taking it, so if there's anything you want to see, let me know?

The security officer stared at their IDs for what Jack felt was an inordinately long time. "You look a lot like Morrison and Reyes," he said in the tone of voice that practically begged for a logical explanation.  
  
"That was the first thing that caught my eye about him," Reyes said, smiling broadly. "I went after Reyes's look deliberately - did you know you can make good money as a Gabriel Reyes lookalike? - and when we started getting serious..." Reyes shrugged while Jack tried not to blush. "We were in Vegas anyway. Jack got smashed and popped the question, I said yes, and we went to the Overwatch-themed wedding chapel because in for a penny, in for a pound, right?" Fondly, Reyes shook his head. "They had a McCree impersonator playing the wedding march on a _banjo_ , can you believe that?"  
  
"A _banjo?"_ The officer laughed. "I'd pay to see that. You were honeymooning in Dorado, then?"  
  
"Yes," Jack said firmly, his face too hot for him _not_ to be blushing.  
  
"And neither of you have anything to declare? Didn't bring back any goodies?"  
  
"I had quite enough to drink while we were there," Jack said with as much dignity as he could scrape together.  
  
"And sadly, I have actual _work_ I have to do," Reyes sighed. "I've already cut it as close as I could, squeezing in a surprise honeymoon. I was supposed to be here yesterday."  
  
The officer handed their cards back. "Then get to it, Mr. and Mr. Guerrero, and welcome back."  
  
They nodded and grabbed their suitcases, Jack hefted his backpack, and then they were through and heading towards baggage claim.  
  
"Moment of truth," Reyes murmured as the conveyor belt started moving. "If it looks tampered with, we leave it."  
  
Jack nodded, and in silence they waited for the suitcase they'd checked. When it came around, it looked intact, but neither of them reached for it.  
  
"Doesn't look like anyone's watching it," Jack murmured.  
  
Reyes nodded, and when it came around again, he stepped forward and grabbed it.  
  
No one stopped them as they went out to hail a taxi, but Jack didn't relax until the cab had pulled away from the curb, on its way to the address Sombra had given them.  
  


* * *

  
After an uncomfortably silent half hour or so in the taxi, they finally arrived at their destination, which turned out to be an absolutely average house in a suburb some 15-20 miles away from the airport. The black hatchback Sombra had described was in the driveway, and the keys were in the glove box. No one came out of the house to stop them, object, or even confirm they were the right people as they put their suitcases in the back. Jack got into the front passenger seat and handed the keys to Reyes, which got him an approving look. The car started, and with no other goal Reyes demanded the car's systems point them towards the nearest Denny's.  
  
Five minutes later, a message came in confirming their hotel reservation at a major chain.  
  
Reyes didn't change their route. "Check-in's not for another half an hour."  
  
"Do you really _want_ to eat at Denny's?" Jack asked. "We just had lunch on the plane."  
  
"It wasn't filling enough." Reyes shot him a quick look. "Are you saying you won't want to eat for another three or four hours?"  
  
When he put it that way... "I could go for a Lumberjack Slam," he conceded.  
  
"How's your back?"  
  
Jack shifted in his seat. "Sore, but not too bad. Those bites are going to sting for a while, though."  
  
Reyes grinned. "Good. Check and see if the hotel has a gym. I want to see how far from peak we are after the last year."  
  
"You just want to see me get all sweaty," Jack teased.  
  
The look Reyes gave him for that was equal parts skepticism and invitation. "Don't you?"  
  
Jack opted to not answer that.  
  


* * *

  
After a second lunch, all Jack wanted to do once they got to the hotel was nap. No sooner had they gotten back into traffic then a voice-only call came in from Sombra. Reyes nodded, and Jack touched 'accept'.  
  
"What is it, you little troublemaker?" Reyes said cheerfully.  
  
"Stopped for lunch, Papi?" she teased. "How was the flight, any problems?"  
  
"None at all, _chiquita._ Whatcha got for us?"  
  
"You've got a... _meeting_ day after tomorrow. I sent the details to your... _phone_. Check it out once you're checked in and settled, let me know if there's any problems. You okay, Tio Jack?"  
  
"Fine," Jack replied, startled. "Why?"  
  
"You were quiet. I wanted to make sure your husband there didn't break you again."  
  
"He's blushing," Reyes announced, laughing. "Don't worry, I'm taking care of my trophy husband."  
  
Jack's mouth quirked into a wry grin. "Aren't trophy spouses supposed to be to be young and pretty?"  
  
"Hush, sweet cheeks. I waited _way_ too long to get you; you're my goddamned trophy. He's blushing again."  
  
Sombra giggled. "You two are precious. Tio Jack, keep that _phone_ on you, okay?"  
  
"As soon as we check in and unpack," he promised.  
  
"Alright. Let me know if you need anything, either of you."  
  
"I will," Jack said.  
  
"I promise. Take care of yourself, _chiquita_."  
  
There was a brief pause before Sombra said, "Okay. I'll be in touch," and the call ended.  
  
They were three blocks down the road before Reyes sighed and glanced at Jack. "You saw her with your visor," he said in a tone of expecting the worst. "How augmented is she?"  
  
Jack looked out the window, as if that could blunt what he was about to say. "She's omnic, Gabriel," he said softly.  
  
" _Damn_ it!" Both hands slammed into the steering wheel, and Reyes took several angry breaths. "I suspected. I didn't want to ask her. I...just...god fucking _damn_ it, what happened to her?"  
  
"You don't think she started out human?" Jack asked in surprise.  
  
"She said she didn't have any other identity _any more_. That kind of hints at something happening to result in her being omnic."  
  
Jack reached out and gripped Gabriel's shoulder in silent support. "I'm still on board with adopting her, you know."  
  
Reyes sighed. "If she lets us. Find a liquor store, Jack. I'm going to need to blur that before I can enjoy you after dinner."  
  
He'd been expecting Reyes to say 'enjoy _rewarding_ you after dinner'. The missing word somehow made that statement ten times better.  
  


* * *

  
Reyes dropped the hotel key on the dresser, left the suitcases against the wall, and flopped backwards onto the closer bed with a groan. " _This_ is something I could get used to," he sighed. Then he spread his arms as if to block Jack from even touching it and announced, "I claim this bed. It is mine. You can have the other one."  
  
Jack tried to smother his disappointment and rummaged through their things until he found the secure, wrist-mounted communication device. Sure enough, Sombra had sent them the location of a Talon base in northern Connecticut. It would be a bit of a drive, enough that Reyes would make Jack do it, but they could easily-  
  
No, they had another hotel in New Hampshire. Shorter drive. Very convenient. Jack turned to tell Reyes about their itinerary, but he was a puddle of black smoke on the bed. Smiling gently at his passed-out pseudo-husband, he strapped on the communicator and set about unpacking. Toiletries into the bathroom, pillows on the beds, lube on the bedside table. Clothes into the dresser, blankets unwrapped from around the pulse rifle and piled on top of the pillows, and his jacket and visor out of sight in the big suitcase with the pulse rifle.  
  
With all the housekeeping done, Jack settled into the hotel's upholstered chair with their pad to catch up on the news until Reyes woke up. It was close to an hour and a half before the gently-swirling black smoke suddenly curdled, drawing itself in and boiling before expanding into a humanoid shape and then solidifying into a naked Reyes, who sucked in a deep lungful of air and sat up.  
  
"Good nap?" Jack asked mildly.  
  
"It was, actually. You get that info Sombra sent?"  
  
"Yup. It's in northern Connecticut. We go straight from there to a hotel in New Hampshire."  
  
"You're driving to the meeting," Reyes said immediately.  
  
Jack snorted. "That's what I figured. I'm checking out the area for a good place to leave the car."  
  
"Once you find one, check for a good place to have dinner." Reyes stood, stretched, and grinned. "Actually...find a place that does take-out. I want to continue what we had to cut short on the plane."  
  
The plane. Feeding Reyes, hearing his enjoyment, wanting to drive him crazy with chocolate torte. Jack blushed to the tips of his ears. "Good idea," he said shortly.  
  
Gabriel's wicked chuckle shot down his spine to tingle in his balls. "You like that idea, Jackie?"  
  
"You know I do, Gabe." Just the thought of it, of feeding Reyes...each morsel a sensual experience...those lips caressing his fingertips while he looked at Jack with half-lidded eyes...  
  
"Show me." Reyes smiled, cold and hungry. "Show me how much you like that idea."  
  
Jack unzipped his pants and pulled them, and his briefs, down over his hips. Gabriel's anticipatory look finished the job his imagination had started.  
  
"Get on the bed, Jackie."  
  
The journey from chair to bed was briefly impeded by half-discarded clothes, which Jack kicked off and hopped impatiently out of. At Gabriel's gesture, he scooted further back, into the middle of the bed. Reyes approached, intent as a hunter sighting prey, and managed to turn the awkward motion of crawling over a mattress into an elegant, powerful prowl. Jack held his breath, leaning back on both hands, as Reyes straddled his outstretched legs and reared up to sit on his thighs. Jack wasn't sure when Reyes had gotten hard, but feeling their erections rub against each other made him bite back a groan. Then Reyes was kissing him, fast and deep, sounds of need felt more than heard as hands slid up his arms, tight on his shoulders before wrapping around his torso. One hand slid down between them, fingers fumbling with their cocks.  
  
"Gabe, please..."  
  
His cock was being pressed against Gabe's, fingers tight around them both, tugging. Gabriel's mouth left his, trailing kisses down his jaw before ravishing the flesh of his neck, leaving him to moan and pant and beg. Gabriel's rhythm kept changing - now faster, now slower, now frantic - as (Jack assumed) he tried to gauge how close they both were and keep them roughly even. It was deliciously maddening. Jack felt like his cock would burst before Gabriel got them both off, but then he heard Gabe gasp "Jackie!" and he was done, they were both done, semen spilling and mingling as pleasure washed the world away.  
  
Jack laid back on the bed as his arms gave up, and for a minute Reyes was a warm weight pressing down on him. Then that comfortable sensation changed to a cool tingle as Reyes misted off the bed and re-formed to put his clothes back on.  
  
"Make sure you get cleaned up before we go out," Reyes said casually. "Change your shirt. I'll find us a good place for dinner."  
  
"Fine." Laboriously, Jack levered himself up and pulled the shirt over his head to drop it on the floor before padding, naked, towards the bathroom.  
  
As he passed Reyes, a hand latched around his wrist. Then the other hand pressed against his shoulderblade until hot pain bloomed, making him gasp.  
  
" _That's_ the sound I wanted to hear," Reyes murmured tenderly, lips pressing butterfly-light kisses around the sterile bandage.  
  
"Happy to oblige," Jack murmured back.  
  
Reyes released him, and he slipped into the bathroom to wash sticky fluid off his skin.  
  


* * *

  
Clean and dressed, they headed out and went not to a restaurant, but to a clothing store.  
  
"I'm an important man," Reyes said, too smug to be innocent. "I need to look like one. I can't wear your old-man castoffs."  
  
"What about me?" Jack asked.  
  
Reyes gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "You need to look like you're _married_ to an important man."  
  
So they bought a few outfits each on the corporate credit card. Then they went to another store and picked up clothes to work out in, and after that, a liquor store where they browsed rows and rows of glass bottles before settling on Crown Royal whiskey for Jack and Glenfiddich scotch for Reyes. ("I've got a reputation now," he'd said when Jack quirked an eyebrow at him. "I can't be seen drinking the cheap crap." Jack turned a laugh into a cough.) _Then_ they went to the restaurant Reyes had picked.    
  
Picked _and ordered from,_ it turned out when Reyes gave his name and was handed a plastic bag, which he then passed to Jack. Considering it was a Japanese restaurant, this did not make him feel any less uneasy about Gabriel's decision.  
  
"Sushi?" he asked doubtfully as they pulled away.  
  
"Sushi for _me_ ," Reyes assured him. "Teriyaki for you. And tempura cheesecake for dessert." He glanced at Jack and laughed. "You thought I would make you eat unidentified bits of sea critters?"  
  
"Or something spicy," Jack muttered.  
  
They stopped at a red light, and Reyes leaned over to kiss Jack's jaw. "And ruin my fun?" he asked in a low voice, laughing again as Jack blushed. "Don't worry, Jackie. I'm not even eating anything spicy myself. You could have made that flight very awkward, and you didn't, so you're going to get the reward I promised you."  
  
That was _very_ reassuring, and Jack found himself wishing Reyes would get them back to the hotel faster.  
  


* * *

  
Reyes entered the hotel room first, carrying the bags of food and booze, while Jack followed with the clothes. He turned for no more than ten, maybe twenty seconds to hang their new suits in the closet, and when he turned back Reyes was naked on Jack's bed, the covers pulled back, with the bottles on the bedside table.  
  
"Hurry up and get out of those clothes," he said with a shit-eating grin when he saw Jack looking. "Geez, old man, move faster."  
  
"You cheated," Jack accused, stripping.  
  
"Shut up and get over here, I'm hungry."  
  
Jack climbed onto the bed and immediately lay down at Gabriel's direction. He had an insulated container in one hand and a pair of chopsticks in the other.  
  
Reyes grinned down at him. "Hold still, Jackie."  
  
Four rolls of something brown, sticky, and warm were set down on Jack's chest, one by each nipple and the other two making the endpoints of a line down the center of his abdomen. Then Reyes bent over him and his mouth enveloped the one by Jack's right nipple, lips teasingly close to that sensitive nub. He didn't have time to be disappointed because moments later Gabriel's tongue was lapping up whatever sauce had remained on Jack's skin. He was positive nothing had touched his nipple, but he didn't protest the extra attention - or Gabriel's deep, appreciative _mmmm_. Then he leaned over to pluck the second roll off and lavish teasing attention to Jack's other nipple. By the time Reyes had eaten all four rolls and subjected him to slow torture via tongue, Jack was more than half erect. The unexpected sensation of lips and tongue on the head of his cock made him choke on an exclamation as Reyes brought him to full arousal and then sat back up.  
  
"Your turn, Jackie," Reyes said smugly.  
  
Jack sat up and accepted container and chopsticks as Reyes lay down as if he were putting his body on display. Which, to be fair, he was. The rolls, it turned out, were some sort of thin meat wrapped around scallions.  
  
"Beef negimaki," Reyes supplied. "It's good. Have fun."  
  
It _did_ smell good. Jack leaned over and took Reyes at his word, licking and gently sucking the skin of his chest before placing the rolls, leaving small hickeys behind as he ate each one. The sounds Reyes made kept him hard, and he made sure to vocally express his appreciation for this appetizer. It barely took any attention to get Reyes just as aroused as he was. The hand in his hair dragging his head back up Gabriel's body for a hungry kiss wasn't a surprise.  
  
"That was the first course," Jack breathed when Reyes released him. "What's next?"  
  
"That depends on how hungry you are," Reyes said, "and what you're hungry _for_."  
  
Jack gave that a moment of thought. Was he more hungry than he was horny? Did he want to savor dinner with a side of afterglow, or did he want the sweet torture of Reyes using him as a plate, winding them both up until they couldn't hold back any more and-  
  
He bit back a groan. Yes, actually, that's what he wanted. He lowered his head for another kiss.  
  
"I want all the torture I couldn't give you on the plane," he murmured against Gabriel's neck. "I want to wind you up until you can't go another second without your dick in me. I want you to make me _beg_ for release."  
  
Reyes groaned. "Do you want the sexy panther?"  
  
"Oh, god yes, Gabe!"  
  
"Then go get one of the hotel cups and pour me a drink."  
  
Jack fetched two cups, stripped them of their wrappers and poured Reyes a good amount of scotch. Reyes was lounging insolently now, sipping, laughing with his eyes every time Jack's gaze dipped south of the equator. Blushing Jack sat on the edge of the bed and poured himself an equally good amount of whiskey. The mattress shifted, and then there was a mouth grazing on his shoulder. Jack took a gulp of whiskey, and that's when the communicator on his wrist chirped. Without thinking, he answered it.  
  
It was a video call.  
  
Jack nearly choked on his drink as Angela's face appeared on a holo-screen. Hastily, he aimed the camera up until it only - he hoped - showed his face, but the alarmed expression she was wearing suggested he hadn't done so fast enough.  
  
"Mein Gott," she exclaimed. "Jack! Are you alright? What happened to you? I know Ana said-"  
  
Right. He hadn't thought about it, but he supposed the bruises from Reyes biting him looked...pretty alarming.  
  
"Angela," he interrupted. "Nice to see you. Yes, I'm alive. Gabriel is alive. Can we catch up _later?"_  
  
"If you are injured-"  
  
"This isn't a good time," he said in a strangled voice as one of Gabriel's hands slipped around his waist to cup his balls.  
  
"Are you in pain? Jack!"  
  
Gabriel's lips on his ear, breath on his neck, and then his chin on Jack's shoulder. "This isn't a good time, Angela," he purred. "Jackie's been a _good boy_ and I'm about to reward him."  
  
Angela flushed and looked like only her years of being a battlefield medic were keeping her composed. "My apologies, both of you. Please, call me when you are...otherwise unoccupied."  
  
The line closed, and Reyes let out a wicked chuckle.  
  
"Finish your drink and pour me another one, Jackie. I've got sushi to eat off of you, and delicious meat to go in your mouth."  
  
Jack groaned and downed the rest of his whiskey.  
  
Reyes unpacked and checked the rest of the containers, bringing two of them back to the bed with him while Jack poured his drink and arranged the pillows so that he could both eat and be eaten off of. The container of sushi got set on his thighs and Reyes accepted his cup, taking a long pull before handing it back.  
  
"You sure you don't want to try it?" he asked teasingly.  
  
"I'd rather taste it on you," Jack retorted.  
  
That got him kissed, exactly the way he'd hoped it would.  
  
"You taste better than the scotch," he murmured as Reyes let him up for air.  
  
"Flatterer." Reyes kissed him again, lightly. "And you still have to let me put some hot, juicy meat in your mouth."  
  
"Is it as good as your meat?" Jack asked.  
  
Reyes laughed. "You'll have to tell me."  
  
Using his fingers, he plucked a strip of beef out of the container in his hand and Jack opened his mouth to accept it, licking and lightly sucking on Gabriel's fingertips before chewing the meat with a deep hum of approval. A spot of coolness on his belly made him twitch involuntarily, and then Reyes bent down to eat the piece of sushi he'd placed there, kissing away any lingering chill.  
  
"Mmm, Gabe..."  
  
Reyes lifted his head and looked at him, sexy panther crouched over his prey. "Hungry, Jackie?"  
  
"Yesss..."  
  
Another kiss, this one vaguely salty from the sushi. "Then just relax and let me take care of you," Reyes said softly.  
  
It was everything Jack had wanted, being used and pampered at the same time, fed and kissed and kissed elsewhere, the sole recipient of all of Gabriel's attention. They started out side by side, but that quickly changed to Reyes sitting on his thighs, erections brushing as the other man leaned forward to feed Jack, pressing into Gabriel's hot belly as he bent over to eat sushi off Jack's chest and leave lightly-bruised flesh behind after each piece. It was exquisite torture and Reyes looked at him hungrily, the predator wanting to pounce, holding himself back to sweeten the eventual pleasure. Once the last piece of sushi had vanished down his throat he leaned forward, pressing himself against Jack, kissing as though they had all the time in the world while his hips gave lie to that leisurely pace, thrusting against Jack's with an urgency that had him moaning.  
  
"Gabe, please..."  
  
"Please what, Jackie?"  
  
He was being mocked; Reyes knew _exactly_ what Jack wanted. He just wanted to _hear_ it.  
  
"I want you," Jack half-begged, trying and failing to get some friction when he bucked his hips. "Please, Gabe. I _need_ you."  
  
Reyes retreated, kissing his way down Jack's torso, making his cock throb as those lips got closer and close to where Jack hoped - prayed - they would go but knew they probably wouldn't. He closed his eyes, enhancing the torture, tracing Gabriel's progress by feel until there were lips circling around and down one thigh.  
  
Then those lips were on his balls, breath hot and teasing, and a warm wetness swiped up from the base of his shaft to the head. Jack held his breath, hands fisted on the sheet, afraid to hope that Reyes would-  
  
Reyes took him into his mouth, warm wet bliss, and Jack let his breath out in a ragged moan. He could barely pry his eyelids open to take in the amazing sight of Gabriel's head bent over his cock, sucking and making muffled sounds that vibrated through his swollen flesh, driving him closer to the edge he was already clinging precariously to. Jack was vaguely aware that he was making sounds, uncertain if they were words or not, but his grip was slipping and he tried to say something to warn Reyes before everything was glory and his eyes rolled back, the world washing out.  
  
The next thing Jack was aware of was hands on his thighs, urging them apart, lifting to shove something soft and squishy under his ass. Then a familiar hot prodding, the _pop_ , and he sighed again as Reyes began fucking him with the same desperation he'd felt so recently, lips and teeth on his collarbone, little grunting sounds of need and then Jack was being kissed ferociously. Gabriel's teeth closed on his lips, like he wanted to devour Jack, and being the focus of lust so intense that it drifted into violence made him moan. Then Gabriel's breath hitched, his face pressed against Jack's chest, and the hot spurt deep inside him told Jack that his sort-of husband had joined him in heaven. Slowly, he raised loose arms to hold Gabe to his chest, completely content with every heartbeat that such an act was allowed.  
  
"Mmmm. As sweet as that was," Reyes said lazily, rolling over to lie next to Jack, "I want chocolate. Get the tempura cheesecake and feed me."  
  
Jack rolled over, placing a light kiss on Gabriel's lips on his way to climbing out of the bed. "As you wish."  
  
Reyes scowled. "That better not have been a _Princess Bride_ reference, Morrison."  
  
"I have no idea what you're talking about," he shot back as he popped the container open to see little battered cubes of cheesecake and a tub of still-warm chocolate sauce.  
  
He did, actually, know what Reyes was talking about - now that it had been brought up. It hadn't been his intent, at least not consciously, but he wasn't sure that he'd be completely honest if he denied the underlying message. Maybe Reyes didn't want to open that can of worms either, because he took Jack's dismissal at face value and demanded a cup of water before being fed dessert.  
  
"If you drip any of that on me," Reyes warned as Jack rejoined him on the bed, "you're cleaning it up."  
  
Jack couldn't keep a smile off his face. "Oh no," he murmured as he dunked the first battered cube and deliberately let it drip as he brought it to Gabriel's lips.  
  
Feeling the gentle suction on his finger as Reyes made sure to collect every bit of chocolate sauce made him remember where those lips had been recently. To cover his reaction, he bent down and licked the chocolate drops off Gabriel's chest.  
  
"Almost as sweet as you," he purred, claiming a vaguely-chocolatey kiss before offering up the next cube for consumption.  
  
"Corny, Jack," Reyes mumbled around his mouthful.  
  
"I'm drunk," he protested, even though he was only tipsy. "What do you want from me?"  
  
"More chocolate on the next cube."  
  
Jack dunked it completely, biting his lip as Reyes sucked the chocolate off his fingers. "You sure you're not still...hungry?"  
  
"I'm drunk," Reyes retorted with a shit-eating grin, damned sexy panther. "My inhibitions are loose. How about yours?"  
  
"I'm not drunk enough for that," he protested, blushing.  
  
"You should-"  
  
A chocolate-dipped cube interrupted whatever admonition Reyes had been intending to deliver, followed by a slightly-urgent kiss.  
  
"Hungry, Jackie?" Reyes purred, eyelids half-lowered. "You should try the cheesecake. It's delicious."  
  
"I know," Jack said shortly. "I can taste it on you."  
  
"You're too tense." Reyes rolled onto his side, walking two fingers up Jack's chest to cup his cheek and hold him still for a kiss. "We should do something about that."  
  
Jack opened his mouth to ask what, exactly, Reyes had planned, only to find a cube of chocolate-dipped cheesecake at his lips. Vengefully, he sucked at Gabriel's fingers long after the chocolate was gone. He was being kissed almost as soon as he swallowed, rolling onto his back at Gabriel's urging, another cube pressed to his lips the instant Reyes let him up for air. Warmth spilled down his chest, and Jack groaned as Reyes lapped up the chocolate sauce he'd poured out, letting the container with the last two pieces of cheesecake drop to the floor beside the bed. He was still trying to scrape his mind together enough to voice a protest when a hand wrapped around his cock, causing his concentration to break up.  
  
Reyes kept up the dual assault of pumping and licking until Jack's breathing became ragged. Then he covered Jack's mouth with his in a deep, chocolatey kiss, swallowing the sounds Jack made as he climaxed.  
  
"Better?" Reyes murmured, leaving a trail of light kisses on Jack's jaw.  
  
"Mmmmm."  
  
"Good. Time for bed, Jack."  
  
Jack didn't protest as Reyes climbed out of bed and pulled the covers up over him before padding to the bathroom. Through the fog of afterglow, he tried to wonder what Reyes was doing, if he was supposed to return the favor somehow, but he couldn't make the thoughts connect. A few minutes later, Reyes turned the lights off and Jack could hear him climb into the other bed. Feeling almost too good to care about what Reyes was doing or why, he drifted off to sleep.  
  


* * *

  
If last night had been the fulfillment of Jack's repressed fantasies, the next morning was the embodiment of the penance he could never find a way to inflict on himself. Reyes had him awake at five in the morning, scrubbing himself hastily in a five-minute cold shower and then throwing on the new workout clothes they'd bought before going down to the hotel's gym. The next two hours were full of snapped commands and disdainful looks that made him feel like he was in his mid-twenties again, practically a raw recruit under the disappointed gaze of his commanding officer, found wanting in everything he did as Reyes ordered him from station to station, testing the limits of his strength and endurance. The only reprieve he got was when Reyes, scowling, pumped out a flawless set of whatever Jack had struggled with.  
  
Once his physical prowess had been tested and graded a C-minus, Reyes marched him back to their room where he was allowed another shower and then casual clothes. They went down to the hotel's breakfast bar and ate lightly before changing back and taking a walk around the block, followed by a jog around the block and then another walk around the block. They kept that up, alternating walking and jogging, until lunch.  
  
"You got old, Morrison," Reyes growled at him from over the sandwiches they'd taken back to their room.  
  
"Wasn't my choice, Reyes," he snapped back.  
  
"You sure could have fooled me with the way you were living for the last year. I'm amazed you didn't collapse from over-exertion with how much you sat around watching drivel on television."  
  
"You watched it with me!"  
  
"I didn't have a choice!"  
  
"You didn't have to stay with me!"  
  
"And let someone else kill you?" Gabriel's dark eyes burned, boring into Jack's. "You're _mine_. No one gets to kill you but _me."_  
  
"I'm not sure you _want_ to kill me," Jack taunted. A corner of his mind shrieked at him, demanding to know what he was doing, but he knew _exactly_ what he was doing. He was playing with fire, hoping to get burned. "You seemed pretty friendly last night."  
  
"That was a reward," Reyes hissed. "You were a good bitch, so I rewarded you the way I promised. Keep _this_ shit up, and I'll have to punish you."  
  
Jack laughed. "What, _I have been generous but I can be cruel?_ Are you the fucking Goblin King trying to win me over with trinkets? Trying to make me believe you're all-powerful and hoping I won't remember that last line?"  
  
"Are you seriously casting yourself as Sarah?" Reyes leaned back, arms folded. "She was dumb, but she had spine. You're more like Hedgewort."  
  
"It's _Hoggle,_ " Jack corrected, flushing as he realized he'd been baited into saying Hoggle's line.  
  
Reyes smirked and stood, moving around the desk until he was right in front of Jack, hands on his hips. "And how are you enjoying my Labyrinth?" he taunted.  
  
Jack licked his lips. He knew what was expected, knew (roughly) what would happen, and said it anyway. "It's a piece of cake."  
  
A second later, he was face-down on the carpet with one hand twisted around behind him and under Gabriel's knee. One hand was by his head, the other pressing against Reaper's kiss until it felt like a spike holding him to the floor. He hadn't even seen Reyes move.  
  
"What the _fuck_ crawled up your ass and died?" Reyes snarled.  
  
"The only thing that's been up my ass is you," he taunted, the words uneven from the pain lancing through him.  
  
"We have a mission tomorrow, and you're driving. Do you _really_ want to need painkillers to get the fuck out of bed in the morning?"  
  
"Do it," Jack dared him. "Don't I deserve it?"  
  
The sharp pain in his shoulder lessened, then his head was slammed into the floor and the world went dark.  
  


* * *

  
Jack woke up to a throbbing head and limbs that all shrieked in pain. He'd been bound hand and foot, arms behind his back, wrists tied to ankles, and left on 'his' bed. Reyes was sitting at the desk, reading something on his pad. The sky seen through the blinds was darkening.   
  
"Feeling less like a suicidal asshole?" Reyes asked calmly without even looking up.  
  
As a matter of fact, he was. "Yeah."  
  
"Good." Reyes put the pad down and came over to the bed. It took a minute of fumbling behind Jack's back, but then he stepped away, coiling the rope up while Jack bit back sounds of pain. "You going to start shit again if I give you painkillers?" he asked dryly.  
  
"Don't need them," Jack insisted, hissing as he sat up and rubbed circulation back into his limbs.  
  
Reyes frowned. "Jack..."  
  
"I'm _fine_. Give me a minute to adjust and then let's hit the gym again."  
  
He'd expected Reyes to call bullshit. He did _not_ expect Reyes to sit on the edge of the other bed like a concerned parent.  
  
"You're not going anywhere until you tell me what's gotten into you."  
  
"Why do you care?" Jack asked sullenly.  
  
"Because you're _my bitch,_ dumbass, and you owe me for thirty years, so I'm going to make sure you _survive_ for the next thirty years," Reyes explained in a calm, reasonable voice, like Jack was a horse he was trying not to spook. "That means making sure you're in shape to take the beatings I'm going to dish out, damaging you _in moderation_ , and making sure you don't get your white-bread ass killed by doing something dumb."  
  
Jack's insides squirmed.  
  
"And in the meantime, we still have missions to do, which means I need to be _extra_ careful about when and how I damage you. And if you're a good bitch, I'm going to reward you. Now. You wanna tell me what the fuck got into you?"  
  
Reyes was watching him, waiting for an answer Jack wasn't sure he had. He looked away, down at the floor, and tried sort out what he was feeling.  
  
"You were distant," he said finally, not raising his eyes.  
  
"I pulled out every insult I ever threw at a recruit," Reyes protested.  
  
"But you didn't insult _me_ ," Jack snapped, glancing up. Reyes looked at him in shock, and he dropped his eyes back into his lap. "You could have been insulting _anyone_. You were all over me last night, and then this morning it was like you didn't even _care_ who you were ordering around."  
  
"I didn't want you to get spoiled and think it was going to be happy fun sexy time from now on," Reyes sneered. "Rewarding you does not mean that I've gone _soft_ and you're not going to get every beating you deserve. There's more than one way to enjoy you, Jack. Sometimes I want to enjoy seeing you in pain, and sometimes I want to enjoy you in bed. It's not just about you. _I_ have needs, too, and sometimes you're just going to have to be _patient_."  
  
Jack raised his head and glared. "If part of that is _enjoying_ anyone else," he said darkly, "then I'm _not_ going to be patient."  
  
The look Reyes gave him was cold and hungry. "I've waited thirty fucking years to enjoy you," he said quietly. "Why the _fuck_ would I want anyone else?"  
  
That sent Jack's heart jumping into his throat. "You really mean that?"  
  
"Are you fucking doubting my word, asshole? You're the only one to survive being kissed by the Reaper. If you want to get jealous of all the schmucks I kill, well, tough titties. I'll kill you when I'm fucking good and _ready_ , and not before. Got it?"  
  
Slowly, Jack nodded. "I just have to say one thing, Gabriel. If you ever _do_ bring someone else in to _enjoy_ , I'm walking out while you're occupied."  
  
For a second, Reyes looked like he was going to say something like _not if I tie you up first_ , but he just nodded. "Fair enough. Now, it's dinnertime and I'm hungry. Do you need painkillers to walk around in public without people guessing that I beat my husband?"  
  
Jack rolled his shoulders and winced. "Probably wouldn't be a bad idea."  
  
Reyes got up to fetch them and a cup of water. "No more melodramatic bullshit about me not wanting to kill you just because I'm not being a pain in your ass right this second?"  
  
"I'm sorry," Jack murmured as he accepted the pills and downed the water.  
  
As soon as the cup was empty, Reyes had his hair in a painful grip and bent his head back for a fierce kiss, all teeth and dominating tongue.  
  
"Damn _right_ you're sorry," he growled into Jack's ear before biting the lobe and releasing him. "I'd make you apologize properly, but I'm hungry. You'll just have to do it after dinner."  
  
The thought of what _apologizing properly_ entailed made Jack feel eager and fluttery. "I'm looking forward to it."  
  
Reyes smiled at him fondly, possessively. " _That's_ my bitch."  
  


* * *

  
The restaurant Reyes brought them to was more fancy than anyplace Jack had ever eaten that _wasn't_ an official event. He wasn't completely comfortable yet in the suit they'd just bought yesterday, but Reyes looked right at home in his. He kept lavishing possessive, anticipatory looks at Jack - as they walked in, as they were shown to their table, over the edge of their menus - that reminded him of the apology he owed his pseudo-husband after the meal.  
  
This wasn't kindness, he reminded himself as he ordered a sinfully tender cut of meat. This wasn't weakness. This was keeping up appearances, and Reyes making sure that he was healthy enough to withstand the beatings he deserved. Jack would be punished for every delicious bite of his dinner; every iota of pleasure he experienced would be paid back threefold in pain later.  
  
Thinking of it like that, Jack found himself feeling...grounded.  
  
"What are you smiling at?" Reyes asked lightly, but his eyes lent the words a different emphasis. _How dare you smile, Morrison?_  
  
"Just thinking about us," Jack answered.  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"About how you'll...treat me _right_ ," Jack said carefully. "And how, even if you can't do it immediately, even if I have to wait, that just means you'll spend _extra effort_ making sure I get the attention I deserve once you _do_ get a chance."  
  
Gabriel's eyebrows climbed up his forehead. "You are absolutely correct, Jack. I'm not going to let anything slide just because I can't address it immediately, but once I can..." He smiled slowly, sending a thrill of anticipation down Jack's spine. "Oh, Jackie, you won't be able to _move_ when I'm done with you."  
  
"I love hearing you say that," Jack breathed. "And I can't stop thinking about what we'll be doing after dinner."  
  
"Is that so?" Reyes sat back as the waiter arrived to clear their dishes. "And how does that make you feel?"  
  
"Hungry."  
  
Reyes ordered something rich and chocolatey to go.  
  


* * *

  
Back at the hotel, Reyes misted out of his suit, leaving Jack to pick it up and hang it properly. By the time Jack had divested himself of clothing, Reyes had appropriated the bag with dessert and was sprawled on Jack's bed like the sexy goddamn panther he was. As Jack watched, he swept a glob of frosting off of the thick slice of cake and smeared it down the length of his cock.  
  
"Come get your dessert, Jackie," he purred.  
  
He'd hoped he would be able to feed Reyes the cake, bite by teasing bite, but this wasn't about him. This was him apologizing for being an overly-needy fuck. This was all about Reyes, and Jack nearly stumbled on his way to the bed. He turned it into a deliberate motion, kneeling beside the bed to take one of Gabriel's feet in his hands and lay a kiss on the top of it.  
  
"I wasn't going to demand you kiss my feet," Reyes said, teasing Jack with warm affection, "but that's a good start."  
  
Jack felt his cheeks heat just a little. Inch by inch, he kissed his way up Gabriel's leg, crawling onto the bed to crouch between his legs as he approached his goal. Lower thigh, upper thigh, and Gabriel's manhood was peeking sleepily at him from inside its protective ring of foreskin. Gently, reverently, he cleaned the frosting off with lips and tongue, bringing Reyes to full arousal. Now, how to proceed?  
  
_And your eyes?  
Consider them exploded._  
  
Of course. As Jack positioned himself to suckle, he noticed Reyes bringing a forkful of cake to his mouth and stifled a surge of disappointment. This wasn't _about_ what he wanted, this was apologizing to Reyes for _making_ it about what he wanted.  
  
Jack sucked the head of Gabriel's penis into his mouth, laid his head on Gabriel's thigh, and began the gentle, steady rhythm that had gotten such a good reaction once before.  
  
"Ohhhhh..."  
  
The sound was a weird combination of surrender and anticipation, and Jack heard soft noises that could be the cake and fork being set aside. He closed his eyes and focused on what his mouth was doing, pretending for all the world that he'd fallen asleep sucking Gabe's cock. The first tight 'Oh, Jack' made his heart leap, and with effort he kept that slow, steady pace as Gabe commanded him almost helplessly not to stop. He was aching almost unbearably by the time Gabriel's breath caught and he came, sighing in bone-deep satisfaction. Jack swallowed and fairly leaped from the bed, grabbing a tissue from the bedside table and working himself frantically, trying to muffle the sounds he was making as he orgasmed. Reyes still hadn't recovered, giving Jack an opening to find the abandoned fork and hold a bite of cake to Gabriel's lips.  
  
Those lips parted easily, accepting the offering of chocolate, and Reyes chewed languidly before swallowing. "Such a good bitch," he sighed, not bothering to open his eyes.  
  
Jack fed him another bite, silently reveling in how well the apology seemed to be going.  
  
Bite by bite Reyes allowed Jack to feed him cake, opening his eyes only to get Jack's attention before demanding a drink. Jack poured scotch into a hotel cup and held it to Gabriel's lips, but he took the cup and sipped at it himself, eyes once again closed in satisfaction. When the last bite of cake had passed Gabriel's lips, Jack put the fork and container down, somewhat at a loss as to what he should do now.  
  
Reyes seemed to be asleep, so Jack stood carefully and started taking stock of the packing that would have to be done. Pull out casual clothes for the drive, fold the blankets and lay them to the side because they'd need to get at the pulse rifle once they arrived at their...meeting...tomorrow. He was folding the new clothes carefully and packing them into the other suitcase when suddenly, warm arms slid around his torso and Reyes pressed his lips to the mark on Jack's shoulder, making him hiss as pain shot through him.  
  
"Good apology," he murmured. "Finish the clothes and get some sleep; you're driving in the morning."  
  
"Thanks, Gabe," Jack said quietly. "I'm sorry. It won't happen again."  
  
"It better not," Reyes threatened tenderly before wisping into the bathroom.  
  
As he finished packing the clothes and crawled into bed, he wasn't sure whether he was relieved or disappointed that Reyes had relinquished possession of his bed and, thus, Jack didn't have to find out if Reyes would have tolerated him curling up and sleeping at his feet.

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter titles come from the following songs:  
> Chapter 1: Skillet, "Back From the Dead"  
> Chapter 2: Assemblage 23, "House on Fire"  
> Chapter 3: Queens of the Stone Age, "The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret"  
> Chapter 4: Santana, "Smooth"  
> Chapter 5: Eurythmics, "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)"  
> Chapter 6: David Bowie, “Within You”


End file.
